Israel says struck Syrian military site storing weapons from former regime

The Israeli military said on Monday it struck a military site in Qardahah, Syria, where weapons belonging to the former Syrian regime were stored.

An army statement said that Israeli forces “struck a military site where weapons belonging to the previous Syrian regime were stored in the area of Qardaha,” the hometown of deposed Syrian president Bashar al-Assad north of the Tartus port.

Syrian state news agency SANA reported “airstrikes carried out by Israeli occupation aircraft on the surroundings of Tartus city, without recording human losses so far,” adding that “civil defense and specialized teams are working to confirm the location of the targets.”

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights earlier said “a strong explosion rocked the Tartus port, at the same time as unknown aircraft, likely Israeli,” flew overhead, reporting smoke rising from the site.

Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP the explosion was in a military base near the port.