Israeli airstrikes against Syria’s port of Latakia, during the early hours of Tuesday morning, caused damage to shipping containers full of food and other supplies. But this rare strike on Syria’s primary port is not to be considered as an isolated incident and fits into a larger trend of Israeli aggression in conjunction with its US partner.

This Tuesday’s strike on the port of Latakia, was reported by Syria’s State broadcaster to have caused only material damage, with images and videos showing the burnt goods formally destined to travel to the Syrian market. Fires raged for hours at the site until they were put out by emergency workers and despite the damage, everyone present escaped with their lives. However, two weeks earlier an Israeli airstrike, against Western Homs, did not turn out so lightly as the strikes resulted in the deaths of 2 Syrian civilians, the injury of a third civilian and of six members of the Syrian Arab Army. The airstrikes not only violated Syria’s sovereignty, but also Lebanon’s as Israeli fighter jets had reportedly launched their missiles from over Lebanese airspace.

Although the Israeli regime rarely acknowledges its strikes, Israeli Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett, was quoted as saying the following, later on Tuesday:  "We are repelling the evil forces of this area—day and night. We will not stop for one second. It happens almost every day. In the face of destructive forces, we will continue to act, we will persevere and not get tired." This statement was referenced by "Israel’s" media as having alluded to the strikes committed just hours prior.

"Israel" is now picking a strategic battle against Syria, slowly escalating tensions to a boiling point and hoping to get a stronger foothold in the illegally occupied Golan Heights. Its aims are to drum up tensions with the hopes that Syria will be too busy attempting to rebuild ties with the Arab League and wider region, for economic reasons. It also seeks to act in tandem with a renewed Daesh insurgency in Central Syria and the threats of another Turkish invasion of North Eastern Syria.

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On October 11, "Israel’s" PM stated his intentions to quadruple the number of illegal settlers currently occupying Syria’s Golan Heights. Addressing a conference on the ‘Golan’s future’ the Israeli PM said "The Golan Heights is Israeli, full stop," vowing to increase the settler population to 100,000, which would mean outnumbering the native Syrian Druze population which sits at roughly 25,000. Flying in the face of "Israel’s" claims to the Golan Heights, on December 2, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted a resolution which re-affirms the principles laid out in a previous UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution, demanding "Israel" withdraw fully from the territory. "Israel" illegally annexed the Golan Heights in 1981, to which UNSC resolution 497 was adopted to reject the actions of the occupying entity.

On the same day that Naftali Bennett announced his plans for the Golan Heights, Syria’s Foreign Minister Faisal Mikdad also said that Damascus “has every right” to liberate the Golan. It seems that "Israel" then acted to provide a show of force by moving tanks towards its buffer zone area with Syria. "Israel" then continued to launch two separate attacks on Syria, within the space of a week, which led to a slow escalation in the intensity of the strikes it has been committing. This included striking West of Damascus during the daytime and also assassinating a former member of Syrian parliament, Midhat Saleh, in a Syrian town near Israeli-occupied territory.

"Israel’s" attacks on Syria are being committed as part of a strategy to set new ground rules and also for the Zionist entity’s leadership to virtue signal to its own people that it is working on their infamous “deterrence capacity”. The element of showing off to the Israeli settler public is especially important to the regime of Naftali Bennett and his power-sharing partner Yair Lapid, who fear the repercussions on their political careers if they fail in satisfying Israelis if their rival Benjamin Netanyahu re-enters the fold. But above all, the Israelis are seeking to drag Syria into a battle or brief escalation, which would ideally be fought on their terms and at the very least they are testing Damascus, to see how far they can go.

But this trend of Israeli aggression, which now targets the civilian lifelines of Syria, is no new feat of the West and its allies. After launching a dirty war on the Syrian government, for the purpose of regime change and balkanization within the country, the US currently occupies roughly one-third of the Syrian territory. The US uses its hired mercenaries in al-Tanf, located in South Syria, and their proxy forces the Syrian Democratic Forces [SDF] in North Eastern Syria. Washington currently maintains control over the most fertile agricultural area in Syria as well as 90% of the country’s oil resources. Not only this, but the US has been caught burning Syria’s wheat fields, looting crops to send them over the border into Iraq and even recently supplied Syria’s farmers with poisoned seeds leading to crop depletion. 

The targeting of the Latakia port by "Israel" fits clearly into a trend of attacking Syria’s resources and goods, intended to cripple the Syrian economy further and to worsen the effects of the country’s economic downfalls on the Syrian people. It is a sinister tactic to say the least, but for the likes of "Israel" and its Western allies, this is simply a strategic move aimed at exploiting Syria’s weaknesses during a 10-year ongoing dirty war and a brutal sanctions regime enforced by the West.