DAMASCUS, Aug 18, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - Unidentified aircraft on Tuesday struck an out-of-service military airfield in northwest Syria where forces from the country's defence ministry are present, a security source told AFP.

"Early on Tuesday morning, unknown aircraft bombed the Abu Duhur military airport in Idlib province," the source said on condition of anonymity.

The facility has been out of service since 2012 and is currently protected by Syrian defence ministry forces, the source said, without immediately reporting casualties.

No side has claimed the strikes on the airfield, which suffered heavy damage during Syria's civil war.

The Israeli military said "no comment" in response to an AFP inquiry about the strikes.

Israel has launched hundreds of strikes on Syria since the December 2024 toppling of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad by Islamist forces whom it considers jihadists.

A US-led international coalition against the Islamic State group has previously carried out strikes on senior jihadist figures in the northwest.

Syria is now part of the coalition.

After taking power, the new authorities in Damascus took control over the Abu Duhur airfield which had been held since late 2018 by Assad's forces, after rebel and jihadist armed factions seized much of Idlib province three years earlier.