Official Syrian media reported that two Syrian soldiers were killed and six injured in an Israeli airstrike on the coastal city of Tartus, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, near the birthplace of President Bashar al-Assad. The media did not specify the exact locations that were targeted. The Syrian Arab News Agency quoted a military source stating, "The Israeli enemy carried out an aggression with bursts of missiles from the direction of the Mediterranean Sea, targeting some of our air defense sites in Tartus, which led to the martyrdom of two soldiers and the injury of six others, as well as some material losses."
Later, the Syrian military stated that Israeli missiles targeted the outskirts of Hama province. They added, "The aggression resulted in some material losses." No further details were provided. An opposition source noted that the latest strike also targeted the Shayrat military airport southeast of Homs province, along with a military base in southern Hama. This base is one of the main military air bases in Syria, fortified by Russia, a key ally of Assad, and is used to conduct raids against opponents.
Israel has conducted hundreds of strikes against alleged Iranian targets in Syria over the past few years, but has mostly avoided bombing coastal provinces where major Russian military assets are concentrated. Israeli officials have not yet been reached for comment. Israeli military experts and others in the region state that these strikes are part of an escalation in the conflict aimed at slowing down the entrenchment of Iranian presence in Syria. The strikes were close to Russia's only naval base on the Mediterranean at the port of Tartus, where Russian warships are moored, while Russia's main Hmeimim airbase is also located in the nearby Latakia province. Russia's intervention, alongside Iran, has shifted the trajectory of the ongoing Syrian conflict in favor of Assad.
