Israeli military launches airstrikes near Syria's Tartus city

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Al Mayadeen + Agencies
3 Mar 2025 22:52

The official Syrian news agency SANA also mentioned that three people were killed and 20 others injured in an explosion in Syria's eastern Deir Ezzor region.

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An Israeli Merkava main battle tank crosses the barbed-wire fence into the UN-patrolled buffer zone separating Israeli and Syrian forces in the Golan Heights near the UN Quneitra checkpoint on March 2, 2025 (AFP)

Israeli airstrikes targeted the Tartus area on Monday, following a blast near the city's port, as reported by a war monitor, Syrian state media reported.

"Israel" has conducted hundreds of airstrikes since an Islamist-led offensive ousted President Bashar al-Assad in December.

The official Syrian news agency SANA stated that "air strikes carried out by Israeli occupation aircraft on the surroundings of Tartus city, without recording human losses so far."

It added that "civil defence and specialised teams are working to confirm the location of the targets."

غارات إسرائيـ ـلية تستهدف عدة مواقع بالقرب من محافظة طرطوس مع تحليق مستمر لطائرات الإحتلال الإسرائيـ ـلي pic.twitter.com/C58tzLXA3z
— الإعلامي محمد جمال (@ammamaiii) March 3, 2025

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that "a strong explosion rocked the Tartus port" as aircraft were heard flying overhead, with smoke seen rising from the site.

The group's director, Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP that the explosion occurred at a military base near the port.

The Israeli occupation military confirmed in a statement that its forces "struck a military site where weapons belonging to the previous Syrian regime were stored in the area of Qardaha."

It justified the strike as a response to "recent developments in the area" but did not provide further details.

In a similar context, SANA mentioned that three people were killed and 20 others injured in an explosion in Syria's eastern Deir Ezzor region, adding that the reason behind the incident was unknown.

Last Tuesday, the Israeli military announced airstrikes on military sites in southern Syria that allegedly contained weapons.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least two people were killed in one of the strikes, which targeted the headquarters of a military unit southwest of Damascus.