The airport in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo was knocked out of service by a series of Israeli airstrikes on Monday.

Syrian state news agency SANA, citing a military source reported: "At about 4:30 a.m. (1.30 a.m. GMT) this morning, the Israeli enemy undertook an aerial aggression from the direction of the Mediterranean west of Latakia, targeting Aleppo International Airport."

The attack resulted in damage to the runway, the source added.

During more than 12 years of civil war in Syria, Israel has launched hundreds of airstrikes on its territory, primarily targeting Iran-backed forces and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters as well as Syrian army positions.

Israel rarely comments on strikes it carries out in Syria but has repeatedly said it will not allow its arch-foe Iran to expand its presence in the country.

An Israeli army spokesperson on Monday told AFP: "We do not comment on reports in the foreign media."

Syrian Transport Ministry official Suleiman Khalil said the damage was centered on the only functioning runway, adding that "maintenance teams will start repair work today to return the airport to service as quickly as possible."

Flights were diverted to Damascus and Latakia airports, he told AFP.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strikes also targeted weapons depots at the adjacent Nayrab military airport.

Israeli strikes have repeatedly caused the grounding of flights at the airports in Aleppo and the capital Damascus, both of which are controlled by the government.

In early May, Israeli strikes on the Aleppo area killed four Syrian officers and three Iran-backed fighters and forced a halt to flights, according to the war monitor.

Israel strikes put the airport out of service twice in March.

Three people were killed during a March 7 strike, while another strike two weeks later destroyed a suspected arms depot used by Iran-backed militias at Aleppo airport, the Britain-based Observatory reported.

Monday's strikes come a week after two fighters backing the Syrian government were killed in Israeli airstrikes on sites near Damascus, said the Observatory, which relies on a network of sources on the ground in Syria.

Syria's war has killed more than 500,000 people, displaced millions and battered the country's infrastructure and industry since it began in 2011.