An Israeli airstrike hit Syria’s Latakia port before dawn on Tuesday, sparking a fire that lit up the Mediterranean seafront in the second such attack on the cargo hub this month, Syrian state media reported.
Since the outbreak of Syria’s civil war in 2011, Israel has routinely carried out airstrikes on its neighbour, mostly targeting Syrian government troops as well as allied Iran-backed forces and Hezbollah fighters.
But it is only the second time it has hit Latakia port, in the heartland of President Bashar al-Assad’s minority Alawite community.
“At around 3:21 am [0121 GMT], the Israeli enemy carried out an aerial aggression with several missiles from the direction of the Mediterranean … targeting the container yard in Latakia port,†the Syrian state news agency, Sana, cited a military source as saying. The strike caused “significant material damageâ€, it added.