Missiles set Syria port containers ablaze

DAMASCUS, Syria — Israeli warplanes fired missiles that struck the port of Latakia early Tuesday, hitting containers and igniting a fire, Syrian state media said.

It was a rare attack on the city’s port, a vital facility where many of Syria’s imports arrive in the war-torn country.

Syria’s state media quoted an unnamed military official as saying that several missiles struck the containers area in the port, setting some of them afire. There were no casualties, according to the official, who gave no further details. Syrian state TV reported that five explosions were heard.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war-monitoring group, said the airstrike hit arms shipments for Iran-backed fighters. It said the explosions were strong and caused heavy damage.

There was no comment from the Israeli military, which has conducted hundreds of airstrikes on targets in government-controlled parts of Syria over the course of its 10-year civil war, but rarely acknowledges such operations.

At a meeting in Jerusalem on Tuesday with the leaders of Cyprus and Greece, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett alluded to Israel’s covert actions against its enemies.

“We’re pushing back on the bad forces of this region, day and night. We won’t stop for one second. This happens almost daily. In the face of destructive forces, we will continue to act, we will be persistent and we will not tire,” he said.