DAMASCUS
Israeli warplanes carried out airstrikes targeting military sites in Syria’s western coastal province of Tartus on Monday, a security source told 963+. The attacks mark the latest escalation in Israel’s sustained campaign against Syrian government forces since the collapse of the former regime in December.
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According to the source, Israeli jets struck multiple military facilities in Tartus, including a naval vessel operated by the Syrian Caretaker government’s Defense ministry and a former regime army barracks along the Tartus-Baniyas coastal highway. Thick smoke billowed from the targeted sites, though no casualties were immediately reported.
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The strikes follow a similar wave of Israeli airstrikes in mid-December 2023, when 13 raids hit weapons depots and government-held military positions in rural Tartus and Latakia. Those attacks triggered explosions lasting over two hours but also resulted in no confirmed casualties.
Israeli strikes in December also damaged the “107th Barracks” in Tartus’s Zama region, while several missiles fell near the coast of Latakia.
Tartus, home to a critical Russian naval base, has become a frequent target in Israel’s intensified airstrikes in Syria since the fall of the Assad regime.