Israel Said To Hit Main Syrian Port, Destroying Iranian Weapons Shipment Bound For Hezbollah
Defense Minister Benny Gantz: “Israel will not allow Iran to stream game-changing weapons to its proxies and to threaten our citizens.”
An Israeli airstrike appears to have hit the Syrian port of Latakia, destroying a large Iranian weapons cache, media reports say. The strike, which took place early morning Tuesday, caused multiple fires and secondary blasts, suggesting the presence of explosives in containers stored at the port.
In recent weeks, this is the second strike on Latakia, Syria’s most significant post. “Israel launched an air strike on Syria’s main port of Latakia on Tuesday in the second such attack this month, the Syrian army said, setting ablaze the container storage area where two port sources said Iran has been storing munitions,” Reuters reported.
The Iranian regime uses the port to supply arms to the Hezbollah terrorist militia. Tehran has been “using the terminal to transport advanced munitions through it to its proxies in the region, notably the Lebanese Hezbollah terror group,” the Times of Israel noted.
Syria: Israel struck Latakia Port's container storage area, 3 weeks after a similar strike pic.twitter.com/HYX4V8Sj8f
— Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) December 28, 2021
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) did not respond to the media reports in keeping with its policy of not commenting on alleged operations abroad.
The Associated Press reported the details of the supposed Israeli strike:
Satellite images taken this week over the Syrian port of Latakia show the smoldering wreckage after a reported Israeli missile strike, hours after firefighters contained a massive blaze.
The raid launched from the Mediterranean Sea Tuesday was among the biggest launched by Israel into Syria, igniting a fire in the container terminal that raged for hours and caused significant material damage in the vicinity. It damaged a nearby hospital and offices, and also shattered windows of residential buildings and cars parked in the area near the port. The explosion could be heard miles away.
It was the second such attack on the facility this month.
The Latakia seaport handles most of the imports to Syria, a country ravaged by a decade-old civil war and Western-imposed sanctions. Another attack took place Dec. 7, when Syrian media reported Israeli warplanes hit the container terminal, also igniting a major fire.
Satellite photos obtained by The Associated Press from Planet Labs PBC Thursday showed heavy smog over the container terminal on Wednesday, likely from the struck container still smoking. The images suggest it was a high precision strike that appeared to hit one container.
Russians failed to prevent the strike despite having a large airbase in Latakia. Syrian supporters of Bashar al-Assad’s regime were angered at the Russians for not engaging the warplanes involved in the raid. News reports indicate that Moscow has stationed its most advanced S-400 air-defense system in the area.
“Syrian social media users expressed outrage on Tuesday that Russia did not activate air defense systems to counter the alleged Israeli airstrikes. An article on Al-Mayadeen TV about the airstrikes also questioned why the Russian forces did not respond to the airstrikes,” The Jerusalem Post reported.
Alongside Iran and its proxy terror militias, Russia has provided military support to the Assad regime since the civil war started ten years ago.
Iran trying to transfer advanced weapons to Hezbollah in Syria. Israel responds with strikes overnight against the Latakia port in northern #Syria pic.twitter.com/UhNCxvfZSr
— Ari Ingel (@OGAride) December 28, 2021
Tuesday’s strikes come as Iran threatens Israel with a large-scale missile attack. Earlier this month, the Iranian regime-affiliated newspaper, the Tehran Times, released a list of Israeli targets that Iran intends to hit in case of a military conflict.
Iran uses its proxy terrorist group Hezbollah to create forward missile bases in Syria and Lebanon. Tehran has supplied the Shia-jihadist militia with long-range and precision-guided missiles capable of hitting targets across Israel.
Jerusalem has vowed to take countermeasures against the deployment of advanced Iranian weaponry near its borders. “Israel will not allow Iran to stream game-changing weapons to its proxies and to threaten our citizens,” the country’s Defense Minister Benny Gantz said following Tuesday’s strike.
While the Biden administration is busy coaxing the Mullahs back into the Obama-era deal, they threaten Israel with a nuclear strike. On Friday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) simulated a mock drone and missile strike at Israel’s Dimona nuclear reactor. As part of the drill, the Iranian military also fired several long-range ballistic missiles, many of them capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
The Israeli intelligence services and the UN nuclear watchdog IAEA believe Iran can acquire the nuclear bomb. “Israel has been sharing intelligence with the United States showing that Iran is preparing to enrich uranium to weapons-grade 90 percent purity,” the Times of Israel reported recently, citing Hebrew-language media sources.
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Comments
“Look Abdul, Israel sent fireworks to celebrate New Year.”
“No, Kareem, Those are just sparklers. They’re saving the big stuff for later.”
You need to fix a line in the story that reads:
“As part of the drill, the Iranian military also fired several long-range ballistic missiles, many of them carrying nuclear warheads.”
Shouldn’t it say “many of them CAPABLE of carrying nuclear warheads”
Indeed. Thank you for pointing out the error.
LOVE how the Israelis think!
Silver lining….So good that those evil Arabs are perpetually stupid! 😉
Should Israel need to attack Iran’s use whatever it takes to completely destroy the threat.
All Iranian nuke facilities should be target #1.
#2 Most of Iran’s oil exports flow from a single point located on Kharg Island. A military strike would eliminate Iran from global oil markets.
#3 Another point of vulnerability is the port of Bandar Abbas where Iran receives most of its imports. Both Bandar Abbas and Kharg Island are choke points. A coalition of Sunni/EU countries with logistical support by U.S. could shut down both ports. Or they could use a swarm of drones, as Iran did to the Saudis, to severely damage these two choke points or shut them down with a cyber-attack.
#4 The newest point of attack is Bandar Jask which provides oil to other Countries located on the Gulf of Oman avoiding the Strait of Hormuz.
The point is that to date, the Iranians have had a free hand in playing offense in the Middle East — in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and the Gulf waters. Time to reverse the strategy and do the same to Iran. If the Iran’s mullahs want to play with fire, they should not complain when they get burned. Time for Iranians to retake control of their country before it is destroyed.
Sorry, accidental downvote, Start taking out their infrastructure, power, cellular, water, Internet, fuel distribution. Finally, really trim Iran’s wings.,
Thanks, Vijeta, for another great piece of journalism (with context)!
Thank you, Ira!
I don’t understand why don’t they truck the material across Iraq????
Alexandra Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, and Omar would see genocide against Jews in the Middle East, and start dancing.
As for Cortez, she’d have no idea why.
The whole squad has subnormal intelligence, but Omar takes the cake.
Israel has awesome intelligence services. Ours only “solves” crimes they instigate
From a Biblical and nationalist standpoint, it is a good thing to be on the Israelis side of this fight.
From a conventional standing they make for odd allies at times. But from 8,000 miles away we must appreciate that this is a fight for their very existence. It is good to have the smart and daring folks of Israel (mostly) on our side.
I enjoyed predicting this last week. 🔮
Pretty nice port you have here. Be a real shame if something BAD happened to it.
these preemptive strikes are timely and necessary–believe the most effective ones are the individual/personal strikes against commanders/nuke program specialists–when the risk becomes personal to those folks, will see a dramatic shift in iran’s progress towards nukes–while they may have no abstract objection to becoming a “martyr for the cause” believe they may not truly want to die to become one