Syrian government blasts attacks by Israeli warplanes on two cities: Report

Syria has “strongly condemned” Israeli attacks on several sites in and around Homs city in the west of the country and around the coastal city of Latakia.

The Israeli air strikes in the early hours of Tuesday represent “a blatant violation of the sovereignty of the Syrian Arab Republic”, the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

The ministry also described the Israeli attacks as “a direct threat” to Syrian security and regional stability, the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) said.

SANA did not provide details on the size of the attacks on Homs and Latakia, or possible casualties following the strikes.

The United Kingdom-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said that Israeli warplanes attacked a Syrian air force base in Homs, where locals heard huge explosions, though there were no initial reports of casualties.

In Latakia, Israeli fighter jets attacked a military barracks, and locals reported that ambulances were heard rushing to the scene of the strikes, though there were also no initial reports of casualties in that attack.

Israel’s continuing and unprovoked attacks on Syria are “part of a series of aggressive escalations pursued by Israel against Syrian territory”, and the government rejects “any attempts to undermine its sovereignty or harm its national security”, the Foreign Ministry said in its statement.

The ministry also called on the international community, particularly the United Nations Security Council, to take a “clear and firm stand to put an end” to the Israeli attacks, which the ministry said are a “flagrant violation” of international law and the principles of the UN Charter, SANA said.

According to the SOHR, Israel has carried out almost 100 attacks so far this year, including 86 strikes from the air and 11 attacks by Israeli ground forces, leading to the destruction of some 135 sites in the country and the killing of 61 people.

In just the period between December 8, 2024 – the date of the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Damascus – and December 31, 2024, Israel carried out more than 500 air attacks on targets across the country.

While Israel had for years waged a secretive campaign of aerial bombardment against Syria’s military infrastructure, its attacks on its neighbour have ramped up since the war on Gaza and the fall of the al-Assad regime.

In late August, six Syrian soldiers were killed in an Israeli drone strike on Damascus , which came a day after a ground incursion into Syrian territory by Israeli troops.