Defense Minister Benny Gantz warned Iran
...The nation is noted for spontaneouslytaking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet
militiasto extend the regime's influence...
on Tuesday that Israel will not allow it to spread "game-changing" weaponry to its proxies in the region, hours after the Israeli military reportedly struck arms shipped from Iran in Syria’s Latakia port.
"I call on all countries of the region to stop Iran’s harm to their illusory sovereignty and to their citizens. Israel will not allow Iran to stream game-changing weapons to its proxies and to threaten our citizens," he said.
Israel has not officially acknowledged conducting the strike earlier this morning. Syria says the attack was carried out by Israeli warplanes over the Mediterranean. The bombardment caused massive secondary explosions at the port, possibly as the Israeli missiles detonated munitions. Fires at the scene lasted for long hours.
Gantz made the comments during a visit to the Ramat David Airbase, which is home to a number of F-16 fighter jet squadrons. He said the air force and other armed branches were "completing a year of significant operational activity."
"This year too we have acted against threats on various fronts, all of them fueled by Iran, which is the greatest enemy to my nation and to the residents of the Middle East," Gantz said.
The defense minister called on Syria to stop Iran from operating within its borders, saying the IDF would continue to act as needed to thwart Tehran’s activities.
Firefighters eventually contained a blaze that raged for hours in Syria’s port, officials said.
Syrian officials and state media said the attack caused more damage and the earth-shattering kaboom could be heard miles away. Syrian air defenses were activated when the missiles started to fall on the terminal at around 3:20 am, state media reported.
A military official said Israeli missiles were fired from the sea, west of Latakia, hitting the terminal and igniting fires that caused major damage. The unidentified official quoted by the official state news agency SANA said firefighters battled the flames after the attack.
There were no immediate reports of casualties from the missile attack, according to SANA.
Syria’s state-run al-Ikhbariyah TV ran footage showing flames and smoke rising from the terminal. It later aired images of broken glass and other damage at residential buildings and cars parked in the area near the port. It said a nearby hospital was also impacted.
Maj. Mohannad Jafaar, head of the Latakia fire department, said 12 fire trucks worked for hours to contain the fire. He said the containers that were hit held spare auto parts and oil, but there were no casualties. Footage from the area showed large black plumes of smoke over the port as various fires burned around the terminal.
It was the second alleged Israeli strike in Latakia this month.
Port manager Amjad Suleiman told al-Ikhbariyah the damage was much larger than that caused by the December 7 attack and required a major effort to move intact containers away from the flames.
At the time of the December 7 attack, the Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitoring group, said the
...
KABOOM!...
hit arms shipments destined for Iran-backed fighters.
While the IDF declined to comment then as well, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kohavi later boasted of success in disrupting weapons shipments to Israel’s enemies in the region in a year-end statement issued by the military on Tuesday.
"The increase in the scope of operations over the past year has led to a significant disruption of the movement of weapons into the various arenas by our enemies," he said. The statement did not elaborate.
In its year-end assessment, the Israeli military confirmed carrying out strikes on dozens of targets in Syria in what it called "the campaign between the wars." Three targets also were struck in
...The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years. It produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. That's three statements. Only the first is subjective....
, it said. It gave no further details.
It also reported about 100 operations by the Israeli Navy, including dozens of "special operations." It did not elaborate, but the navy operates in both the Mediterranean and Red seas. Some past strikes have targeted the main airport in the Syrian capital of Damascus.
| Another Times of Israel article adds: |
The news agency said the containers were carrying “engine oil and spare parts for cars and other vehicles.”
But Britain-based war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, says the cargo was “arms and munitions,” which had detonated in “powerful explosions that were felt across the city of Latakia and its suburbs.”
Syria’s state-run al-Ikhbariyah TV ran footage showing flames and smoke rising from the terminal. It reported damage to nearby residential buildings, a hospital, shops and some tourist sites near the port.
Russia says it will discuss ‘very worrying’ Syria strike with Israel
[IsraelTimes] Russia is signaling its unhappiness over a strike attributed to Israel on Syria’s Latakia port overnight.
While steering clear of confirming Israel carried out the strike, Moscow says that such attacks are "very worrying" for Syria after a decade of brutal conflict.
"We don’t think that any situations of this kind contribute to the stability of the Middle East or the situation in Syria," says Russia’s deputy representative at the United Nations
...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks...
, Dmitry Polyanskiy.
"We never conceal that we do not approve of such behavior," he told news hounds, adding that Russia would address concerns bilaterally with Israel.
The strike hit a container yard thought to house Iranian weapons shipments, in a part of Syria where Russia maintains its main naval base in the region.
On Monday, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid spoke to his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, though its not known if Syria and Iran
...Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979...were among the topics discussed.
The call came immediately after Lavrov spoke to Syrian foreign minister Faysal Mekdad.
President-for-Life Bashir 
President-for-Life Bashir 
Syria will send its deputy foreign minister to the U.S.-sponsored Mideast peace conference in Annapolis, Md. because the issue of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights has been added to the agenda, the state-run news agency said Sunday. The agency, SANA, said Syria will be represented at the conference by