An Israeli airstrike yesterday hit the Syrian port of Latakia, the second such attack on the key facility this month, Syrian state media reported.
Since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011, Israel has routinely carried out airstrikes on the nation, mostly targeting Syrian government troops, as well as allied Iran-backed forces and Hezbollah fighters.
“At around 3:21am, the Israeli enemy carried out an aerial aggression with several missiles from the direction of the Mediterranean [Sea] ... targeting the container yard in Latakia port,” the Syrian Arab News Agency reported, citing a military source.
The strike caused “significant material damage” and led to fires, it said.
On Dec. 7, Israel carried out strikes on an Iranian arms shipment at Latakia, which is in Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s western Syrian heartland, without causing any casualties.
The Dec. 7 attack, which was the first on the facility since the start of the war, triggered a series of explosions, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitor.
Last month, three soldiers and two Syrian fighters affiliated with Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah were killed in Israeli airstrikes, the observatory said.
While Israel rarely comments on individual airstrikes it carries out on its northern neighbor — with which it remains officially at war — it has confirmed hundreds since 2011.
According to a report by the Israeli army, it hit about 50 targets in Syrian operations last year.
In the deadliest operation since the strikes began, Israel killed 57 regime force members and allied fighters in eastern Syria overnight on Jan. 13.
The Israeli military has said that its operations are necessary to prevent Iran from gaining a foothold on its doorstep.
The head of military intelligence in Israel, Major General Aharon Haliva, has accused Iran of “continuing to promote subversion and terror” in the Middle East.
Israel has targeted Iran’s military sites in Syria and also carried out a sabotage campaign inside Iran against its nuclear program.
Tehran has been a key supporter of the Syrian government in the decade-old conflict.
It finances, arms and commands Syrian and foreign militia groups fighting alongside the regular armed forces, head among them Lebanon’s Hezbollah group.
The conflict in Syria has killed nearly 500,000 people since it started.
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