Syrian state media reported that Israeli airstrikes targeted the coastal Latakia province on Thursday, with a war monitoring group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, confirming that munitions depots were hit. [Getty]
Israeli strikes targeted the coastal Latakia on Thursday, reportedly hitting an arms dump near the city’s port.
“In a number of air strikes, Israeli occupation aircraft targeted the vicinity of the Al-Abyad port and the city of Latakia,” state news agency SANA reported.
Authorities were working to ensure there were no casualties, SANA added.
Monitors have said “munitions depots” at the port, located on the northern outskirts of Latakia city, were targeted.
Israel has launched hundreds of strikes on military sites since rebels ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad on December 8, saying it wants to prevent weapons from falling into the hands of the new authorities.
On Tuesday, the Israeli military said it had “struck military capabilities” at two military bases in central Syria, after striking the same sites days earlier.
Tuesday also saw six civilians killed in Israeli bombardment in south Syria’s Daraa province, authorities said, as Israel said its forces responded to incoming fire.
Israel has deployed troops to the Golan Heights buffer zone nearby, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has demanded the demilitarisation of southern Syria, which borders the Israeli-annexed Golan.
The Observatory has reported near-daily Israeli military incursions into southern Syria beyond the demarcation line in recent months.
