For the second time since the beginning of December, the Syrian port of Latakia, a strategic facility in the west of the country, was hit by Israeli airstrikes, which caused extensive damage on Tuesday, Syrian state media said.
Since war broke out in Syria in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes on its neighbor, targeting military positions as well as Iran-backed forces and fighters from the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah.
“Significant material damage”
“At around 3:21 am, the Israeli enemy carried out an aerial attack with several missiles in the direction of the Mediterranean (…) targeting the container park in the port of Latakia,” the Syrian press agency Sana indicated, citing a military source, with reference to the country’s main port, located in the north-west of the country. The agency did not report victims but fires and “significant material damage”, adding that several buildings near the port, including a clinic and shops, had been damaged.
According to Sana, who released footage showing firefighters trying to control a massive blaze, the targeted containers were filled with “oil and spare parts for cars and other vehicles.” The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), an NGO based in the United Kingdom and which has a vast network of sources in Syria, claims for its part that “weapons and ammunition” were in these containers, adding that it was “not clear” whether they were from Iran. The bombardment “led to violent explosions which were felt in the city of Latakia and its surroundings,” added OSDH.
” No comments “
On December 7, Israel launched a first attack against an Iranian arms shipment in the port of Latakia, without causing any casualties, according to OSDH. This bombardment had set fire to “a certain number of commercial containers”, had for his part specified Sana, evoking a “response” of the Syrian anti-aircraft defenses. “We do not comment on foreign media reports,” an IDF spokesperson said on Tuesday when asked about the latest strikes on the port of Latakia.
The Jewish state rarely comments on attacks it carries out against its northern neighbor, but has repeatedly stated that it will not allow its enemy, Iran, to expand its influence in Syria. Iran, considered the main regional ally of the Syrian regime, has provided political, economic and military assistance to Damascus since the conflict began in 2011. Israel has recently stepped up the frequency of its strikes in Syria. On November 3, airstrikes targeted arms and ammunition depots belonging to Iranian-affiliated fighters on the outskirts of Damascus, according to OSDH.
About thirty targets
At the end of October, five fighters affiliated with Iran had been killed in an Israeli strike against several positions in the suburbs of the Syrian capital, according to the OSDH which also reported the deaths of nine pro-Iranian fighters during a Israeli strike the same month, in the eastern suburbs of Homs. Damascus then reported the death of a Syrian soldier.
Since the start of the year, Israel has carried out attacks against around 30 targets in Syria, which have left 130 dead, including five civilians and 125 combatants of the regime or members of forces allied with it, according to OSDH. Syria has been experiencing conflict since 2011 that has caused the death of an estimated 500,000 people and enormous destruction of infrastructure, leading to the displacement of more than half of the pre-war population. In 2021, the conflict left 3,746 dead according to the OSDH, a significant drop compared to the previous year which already had the lowest toll since 2011.