The Ilan and Asaf Ramon Airport opens in Timna; Airport to be used first for domestic flights and international flights in coming months; Netanyahu addresses Israel’s strikes in Syria overnight during ceremony.
Israel inaugurated a new airport on Monday outside of Eilat.
The Ilan and Assaf Ramon Airport was officially opened with a ceremony attended by Prime Minister Netanyahu. The airport is located in the Timna Valley outside of Eilat. Ilan Ramon was Israel’s only astronaut to date and was killed on the Columbia in 2003. His son Asaf, a pilot in the Israel Air Force, died during a routine exercise after his F-16 crashed in the Hermon Mountains in 2009.
The airport will initially be used for domestic flights only and will boost tourism to Israel’s south and Eilat. In a recent The New York Times article on top places to visit in 2019, Eilat made 6th on the list and was referred to as “a newly accessible Red Sea paradise” given the new airport. It cites the location in the desert as well as “coral reef with hundreds of varieties of neon fish, sharks and stingrays,” as reasons to visit Eilat and Israel’s southern region.
Prime Minister Netanyahu praised Israel’s latest achievement and growth, stating “Israel is opening up to the world. No longer an isolated corner, it’s becoming a hub in international terms.”
Speaking on the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) mission in Syria overnight, he warned Iran, “Last night the air force strongly attacked Iranian targets in Syria after Iran launched a missile… at our territory. We will not ignore such acts of aggression as Iran attempts to entrench itself militarily in Syria and given explicit statements by Iran that it intends to destroy Israel, as the commander of the Iranian air force has just said.” Netanyahu was referring to the head of Iran’s air force, Brigadier General Aziz Nasirzadeh, who claimed on Monday following Israel’s strikes, “[Iranian] young people in the air force are fully ready and impatient to confront the Zionist regime and eliminate it from the Earth…”
Netanyahu assured the Islamic Republic and global community, “We are acting against Iran and against the Syrian forces that abet the Iranian aggression. Whoever tries to hurt us – we hurt them. Whoever threatens to destroy us will bear the full responsibility.”
Photo: Opachevsky Irina/Shutterstock.com
