An Israeli airstrike targeted the coastal city of Latakia in Syria on the Mediterranean Sea in the early hours of this Thursday morning, according to the state news agency "SANA".

SANA reported in a series of urgent news: "Our air defense systems are responding to hostile targets in the skies over Latakia," indicating that "firefighting teams are working to extinguish the fires caused by the Israeli aggression at the entrance to the city of Latakia."

Later, the Syrian agency confirmed "the return of calm to the skies over the city of Latakia after the Israeli aggression."

This is one of the rare strikes targeting the coastal city, which is considered the stronghold of the regime's leader Bashar al-Assad, located near the Russian Khmeimim airbase.

Activists on social media circulated photos and videos, claiming they were from the first moments of the Israeli bombardment on the city, while some mentioned the possibility of casualties at the strike site.

Repeated Strikes on Syria

Since the outbreak of the popular revolution in Syria in 2011, before it was suppressed by the Syrian regime forces, the Israeli army has launched hundreds of strikes in this country, primarily targeting positions of the Syrian regime's army and Iran-backed fighters, including sites of Hezbollah.

About a week ago, Israel launched airstrikes targeting an industrial area in the countryside of Homs and a military site in Hama, according to the Syrian regime's television, noting that the damages were limited to material losses.

On the eighth of this month, 7 civilians, including children and women, were killed, and 11 others were injured in an Israeli airstrike that targeted a residential building in the Mazzeh area of Damascus, which had been hit on October 1st by an Israeli strike only three kilometers away from the Iranian embassy, resulting in the deaths of three people and injuries to 9 others.