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Israeli strike on Syria’s Latakia port sparks blaze, Syrian media reports

The attack is said to have targeted a weapons shipment belonging to “Iran-backed militias,” causing “heavy”material damage • No casualties were reported.

Shipping containers burn at Syria's Latakia port following what Syrian media claim was an Israeli missile strike, Dec. 7, 2021. Source: Screenshot.
Shipping containers burn at Syria’s Latakia port following what Syrian media claim was an Israeli missile strike, Dec. 7, 2021. Source: Screenshot.

Israel launched a missile strike on Syria’s Latakia port early on Tuesday, according to official Syrian media.

The missiles were launched from the direction of the Mediterranean at approximately 1:23 a.m., and targeted shipping containers housed at the port, said the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), citing a Syrian military source.

Latakia Governor Ismail Hilal told SANA that firefighting teams had successfully extinguished the resulting blaze in the port’s container yard.

There were no reports of casualties.

The Latakia port is Syria’s main commercial shipping hub.

According to the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has sources on the ground in Syria, the target of the strike was a weapons shipment belonging to “Iran-backed militias.” The strike caused violent explosions and “heavy” material damage, according to the report.

The strike is the 27th attributed to Israel in Syria since the beginning of the year, according to SOHR.

On Nov. 24, Syrian state media reported that two people had been killed and seven wounded by an Israeli strike in the Homs region. According to the report, six of the wounded were soldiers, while the rest of the casualties were civilians. SOHR sources reported however that four people died as a result of the strike, two of them due to falling debris from the interception of an Israeli missile by Syrian air defenses.

On Nov. 9, Syrian media reported that Israel had struck a number of targets in the country’s central and coastal regions, wounding two Syrian soldiers and causing material damage.

On Nov. 3, Syrian media reported an Israeli strike near the town of Zakiyah in Rif Dimashq.

On Oct. 30, five militia members were reported to have been killed in a strike in the Damascus area. And on Oct. 25, Israel reportedly struck sites in Quneitra Governorate in southwestern Syria.

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