Syrian state media reported Israeli airstrikes in the Tartus area on Monday, coinciding with an explosion near the port city and statements from the Israeli army claiming they targeted a “military site” further north. According to the official news agency SANA, the airstrikes by “Israeli occupation aircraft” occurred around Tartus, but there were no immediate reports of casualties. The agency noted that civil defense teams were working to verify the locations of the strikes.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group based in the UK, noted that a “strong explosion” was detected at the Tartus port, with reports of smoke rising from the site. Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Observatory, indicated that the explosion took place at a military base located near the port.
In a statement, the Israeli army confirmed that its forces targeted a military site in Qardaha, where it claimed weapons belonging to the previous Syrian regime were stored. The statement referenced “recent developments in the area” as the reason for the decision to strike; however, further details were not provided. Qardaha, which is approximately 60 kilometers north of Tartus, is known as the hometown of the ousted president Bashar al-Assad.
This airstrike follows a pattern of Israeli military actions in Syria, where hundreds have been conducted since an Islamist-led offensive resulted in the removal of Assad in December. Israel launched these operations mainly to prevent the Syrian military’s assets from coming under the control of hostile forces. Last week, the Israeli army reported conducting strikes on military sites in southern Syria, which resulted in at least two fatalities at a military unit’s headquarters situated southwest of Damascus.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for the complete demilitarization of southern Syria, emphasizing that his government would not tolerate the presence of the forces from the newly established Islamist-led government near Israeli borders. Throughout the prolonged Syrian civil war—initiated in 2011—Israel had consistently engaged in airstrikes targeting Syrian government forces and Iranian-affiliated entities.
On the day Assad was overthrown, Israel announced that its troops had accessed a UN-patrolled buffer zone along the Golan Heights, a strategically significant area that Israel captured from Syria during the 1967 war and subsequently annexed in a move that remains largely unrecognized on the international stage.
While participants in a recent national dialogue conference in Syria voiced strong opposition to Netanyahu’s remarks, calling for international pressure on Israel to cease its military actions, tensions remain high. Additionally, Israel issued warnings over the potential threat to Syria’s Druze minority, following unrest in suburbs of Damascus where many members of this community reside.
