Israel strikes Syrian port used by Iran

An Israeli airstrike hit a port in Syria today that is used by Iran.

At 1:23 a.m. local time, the Israeli military fired several missiles at a shipping yard at the Latakia port on Syria’s Mediterranean coast. The strikes caused a fire at the port, but it was extinguished by first responders, Syria’s official news outlet SANA reported.

It was the first time Israel has struck the facility, which is used to bring in cargo from Iran, the Israeli news outlet Haaretz reported.

Syria regularly accuses Israel of carrying out airstrikes in its territory, though Israel rarely confirms doing so. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett did appear to confirm today’s strike was from Israel, however.

“We’re pushing back on the bad forces of this region day and night,” Bennett told reporters hours after the incident. “We won’t stop for one second. This happens almost daily.”

There have been a particularly high number of suspected Israeli strikes in Syria recently. There were four aerial attacks in November alone, and some caused casualties among the Syrian military and hit Iran-linked targets in the country.

Iran supports the Syrian regime in the civil war against rebel forces. Israel views the Iranian presence in its neighbor as a threat due to Iran’s rhetoric and support for proxy groups that oppose Israel, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon.