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After Israeli missile attacks in the early hours of Friday, Incoming and outgoing flights through Damascus International Airport are suspendedaccording to what was announced by the Ministry of Transport of the Syrian regime.

She explained that the suspension came “as a result of the suspension of some technical equipment from service,” without adding details.

I avoided mentioning the Israeli targeting

While the ministry did not indicate any relationship of the decision to the Israeli targeting, it stated that the announcement of the dates for operating flights through the airport will be made as soon as these equipments are repaired to ensure the safety and security of the operational movement.

For his part, the director of the Syrian Observatory, Rami Abdel Rahman, said during an interview with Al-Arabiya that the Israeli strike at Damascus airport destroyed warehouses of Hezbollah and other Iranian factions, pointing out that Iranian militias are storing weapons in Syrian residential areas.

“Turned Syria into an ammunition depot”

He pointed out that the control tower at the airport was affected by the Israeli strike, adding that “Iran has turned Syria into a depot for ammunition and weapons.”

He also reported that militiamen were wounded, stressing that the bombing targeted 3 sites at Damascus Airport.

Prior to that, the observatory said that air traffic had stopped for 48 hours at the capital’s airport.

Delayed flights 48 hours

He also added that the Syrian airline informed all travelers who had reservations today to postpone their flights for 48 hours following the Israeli targeting.

It is noteworthy that missile attacks often target sites on Syrian territory related to the military activities of the Iranian militias or the regime forces, and Israel is often accused of carrying them out.

While Tel Aviv usually refrains from commenting, although its officials have repeatedly stressed over previous governments that they will not allow Iran and the groups and militias it supports to penetrate near the Syrian-Israeli border, which poses a threat to Israel.

Since the outbreak of the Syrian crisis in 2011, the Israeli forces have launched hundreds of raids, targeting multiple military sites on Syrian territory, a large part of which belong to Hezbollah and Iranian militias.

President Alberto Fernandez received strong support from his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicholas Madurofor his speech at the XI Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, where the Argentine president questioned the excussion of Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua of the regional forum.

“Alberto Fernández has made a firm, clear, brave speech and put everything in its place”, defined Maduro, referring to the intervention made by the Argentine government as president pro tempore of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).

On a visit to Iran, Nicolás Maduro stressed that Alberto Fernández “following protesting and rejecting the exclusion in front of (the president of the United States, Joe) Biden”, told him that “we have CELAC and invited him to participate without exclusion”. “put the icing on the cake”, said the head of state of Venezuela, during an interview with the Iranian propaganda channel HispanTV during his visit to Tehran.

In his speech at the regional summit, Alberto Fernández delivered a harsh speech when referring to the exclusion of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaraguacountries that were not invited as a result of the denunciations for the violation of human rights.

“We definitely would have wanted another Summit of the Americas”, he expressed in his presentation at the multilateral forum created by the White House in 1994, whose mission was to unify the regional agenda following the fall of the Berlin Wall and the implosion of the Soviet Union. “Being a host country does not grant the ability to impose a right of admission”, he added, to the decision not to invite Caribbean governments.

In this framework, Fernández invited the president of the United States, Joe Bidenat the next CELAC meeting, proposed to organize food production worldwide and demanded “restructure” the Organization of American States (OAS) “immediately removing those who drive it”, in reference to the secretary general of that organization, Louis Almagro.

In addition, he asked Joe Biden to reformulate his country’s policy towards Latin America and questioned the support of his predecessor Donald Trump for Mauricio Macri’s management. He also demanded a replacement at the Inter-American Development Bank (BID) what for “Without further delay, it has to return in its governance to Latin America and the Caribbean.”. That institution, he said, “historically was in Latin American hands,” mentioning that the presidency of that organization is currently in charge of the American Mauricio Claver Carone.

Alberto Fernández traveled to Los Angeles with a delegation made up of the first lady Fabiola Yañez, Serge Massa (head of the Chamber of Deputies), santiago cafiero (chancellor), Gabriela Cerruti (presidential spokesperson), Carla Vizzotti (Health), Vilma Ibarra (Legal and Technical secretary), Cecilia Nicolini (Climate Change Secretary), Julius Vitobello (Secretary General of the Presidency), Gustavo Beliz (Secretary for Strategic Affairs), Eduardo Valdes (Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations of Deputies) and John Manuel Olmos (Chief of the Cabinet of advisers of the Casa Rosada.

The head of state’s visit to the United States came following a long diplomatic negotiation that included Joseph Biden, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) and Nicolás Maduro. The exclusion of these three countries motivated the absence of López Obrador and the doubts of Fernández himself, who just a week ago confirmed his presence at the meeting. The President was reluctant to participate, but closed an understanding with all parties to guarantee their assistance and be “the voice” of the excluded countries.

A week ago, Nicolás Maduro himself expressed himself in those terms to support Alberto Fernández’s decision to participate in the summit. “It seems very good to me that he brings the voice of Latin America and the Caribbean to the meeting of the Americas (…) we are going to be well represented in the voice of President Alberto Fernández”pointed out then the Chavista leader.

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