DAMASCUS/JERUSALEM, May 30 – Israel carried out airstrikes late Friday on multiple military targets in Syria’s coastal provinces of Tartus and Latakia, including a former special forces headquarters and military positions near civilian areas, according to Syrian state media and a war monitor.

In Tartus, the airstrikes targeted a military facility formerly used by special forces, as well as sites in the al-Wuhaib industrial area and the al-Blata barracks, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor.

State-run al-Ikhbariya TV reported that Israeli warplanes hit the village of Zama in the Jableh countryside, as well as military sites in the Mina al-Bayda port area and the 107th Brigade base in neighboring Latakia province.

The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that it attacked weapon storage facilities in Latakia on Friday night.

It added that the facilities contained missiles that posed a threat to international and Israeli maritime freedom of navigation.

There were no immediate reports of casualties, and Syrian defense authorities had not issued an official statement.

The strikes come amid heightened regional tensions and follow a series of Israeli raids across Syria in recent months, some of which have resulted in casualties and the destruction of air defense systems or weapons depots.

XINHUA