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Syria closed the Damascus International Airport on Friday “until further notice” after Israeli air strikes damaged the airstrip and a terminal, the transport ministry said.

Hardliner media in Tehran Saturday morning barely mentioned the attack, excpet carrying the condemnation of the Iranian foreign minister.

As the news about the Israeli raid spread, Mohsen Rezaei, a former chief commander of the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) and a vice president in the government, said at a ceremony in Tehran Friday morning that “I wish Israel would dare to take a wrong step and give us an excuse, so we could eradicate it from this earth.”

But Rezaei, known for his boisterous comments, was not referring to the attack on the Damascus airport. His comments were a reaction to recent Israeli statements threatening to take action against the Islamic Republic.

The only Iranian reaction to Friday’s attack worth noting was the response of the foreign ministry. Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian condemned the attack as a "clear violation of Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity... (and) contrary to international law and human principles", in a phone call with his Syrian counterpart Faisal Mekdad, Iran's state media reported.

Israeli attacks against the Damascus airport and targets in its vicinity said to house weapons and Iran-backed forces have been a regular occurrence in recent years.

But this time the attack seems to have been more direct and punishing. The transport ministry on Friday said the airport had stopped all flights, and a later statement said Israeli air strikes damaged the runway and one of the terminals.

“As a result of this damage, all arriving and departing flights at the airport have been suspended until further notice,” the ministry’s second statement said.

Maria Zakharova, Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, condemned the Israeli attack. “In this regard, we are forced to emphasize again that the ongoing Israeli shelling of the Syria territory … is absolutely unacceptable. We strongly condemn Israel’s provocative attack on critical Syrian civilian infrastructure,” Sputnik quoted a published statement as saying.

Last month, there were reports that Russia is withdrawing forces from Syria and possibly handing control of some bases to Iranian forces, because of its hard-pressed military situation in Ukraine.

There were also speculations if Israel will become more emboldened in taking action against Iran in Syria.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday the Israeli bombing had damaged the runway after targeting "warehouses of Iranian militias" near the airport.

An Israeli military spokesperson declined to comment, Reuters reported.

For several years, Israel has been attacking what it has described as Iranian-linked targets in Syria, where Tehran-backed forces, including Lebanon's Hezbollah, have deployed to help President Bashar al-Assad. But there was clear political coordination with Russia, as former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Moscow multiple times and held long discussions with President Vladimir Putin.

In line with efforts to stop Tehran’s flourishing drone program, “the bipartisan legislation would amend the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) to make clear that supporting the supply, sale or transfer to or from Iran of UAVs, or providing other assistance related to UAVs, is sanctionable under US law,” the committee Chairman Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Ranking Member Jim Risch (R-Idaho) said in a statement on Thursday.

“As evinced by Iran’s drone attacks on Israeli shipping, Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and Iran-backed militia attacks on US facilities across Iraq... Iran’s reckless use and export of lethal drones to proxies and terrorist actors across the Middle East represents a significant threat to US national security and that of our allies and partners,” Menendez said, adding that “I look forward to working with my colleagues to ensure swift passage on the Senate floor and ultimate enactment of this bipartisan legislation into law.”

The House of Representatives passed the legislation late in April but it requires approval from the Senate and a presidential signature to become law.

“Iran’s regional terrorism continues to threaten not only the safety and security of our partners in the Middle East, but also American national security interests. Drones have rapidly become Iran’s weapon of choice,” Risch noted.

The legislation proposes that the Pentagon works with Israel to integrate air defenses of six GCC countries of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates with Egypt, Jordan, and Iraq with the aim of thwarting threats from Iran and Iranian backed-militias across the region. 

The Deterring Enemy Forces and Enabling National Defenses (DEFEND) Act is a joint effort by Congress to develop a strategy for signatories of the Abraham Accords and other countries to combat Iranian destabilizing activities threatening peace and security in the Middle East.

Built on the success of previous peace agreements between Israel, Egypt, and Jordan, the Abraham Accords, signed on September 15, 2020, resulted in normalization agreements between Israel and several Arab states – namely the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco. 

“Iran has proven time and time again that they will stop at nothing to threaten the safety and security of Israel and our allies in the Middle East” said Rep Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash).

Illinois's democratic representative Brad Schneider said, “Iran is on the one yard line in their pursuit of a nuclear weapon, and is threatening our allies in the region in numerous other ways. Strengthening our allies by building unity and enhancing shared security capabilities is critical to confronting Iranian threats to the region.”

The parliament, which has still not adopted its budget for 2022, approved the law relating to "food security and development" totaling 25 trillion Iraqi dinars, approximately over $17 billion.

Of that, $2.6 billion will be allocated to settling Iraq's gas and electricity debts, as well as for buying further energy supplies from abroad, and about $3.4 billion will be used to buy cereals, including large volumes of wheat supplies from both the domestic market and abroad.

Despite its immense oil and gas reserves, Iraq remains dependent on imports to meet energy needs, especially from neighboring Iran, which currently provides a third of Iraq's gas and electricity needs. 

Iran had demanded Iraq pay $1.6 billion it owes for gas imports by the start of June to guarantee further supplies, as it is cutting or reducing supplies regularly due to its own shortages. 

The debt to Iran, which has sharply reduced its gas exports in recent days, dates back to 2020, but payment was stalled amid sanctions against Iran by the United States, which means that Baghdad cannot pay directly for energy imports in cash.

On Tuesday, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi said that Iran has "promised to restore the needed supply of gas in the coming days.”

Electricity demand surges in Iraq as people seek to keep cool as the country enters the intense heat of the summer, when temperatures soar to over 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit).

Bennett's Abu Dhabi visit, his third in recent months, had not previously been announced, an Israeli statement said, adding that the two leaders, whose countries opened relations two years ago, would discuss "various regional issues" but provided no detail.

“Today, together, we will take the special bond that has been woven between our countries to the next level," it quoted Bennett as saying.

In the statement, Bennett also commended the International Atomic Energy Agency's passing of a resolution critical of Iran for failing to explain uranium traces found at three undeclared sites.

On Wednesday, of 35 members states on the IAEA board of governors, 30 voted in favor of the resolution sponsored by the ‘E3’ (France, Germany, the United Kingdom) and the United States.

Before the vote, Iran reacted by announcing that it would turn off two monitoring devices installed by the IAEA at its nuclear installations, a decision that the US condemned. Sources say Iran will also speed up installation of advanced uranium enrichment machines.

The resolution comes with year-long talks paused since March between Iran and six world powers aimed at reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action), and with continuing preparations in Israel for an attack on Iran’s nuclear sites.