Report: Israel behind recent strike on missile depot in Syria’s Latakia

Israel was reportedly behind the strike in Syria’s Latakia last week, according to the U.S. sources speaking to CNN late Friday, who said the attack was targeting a missile depot.

The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity to the U.S. news network said the July 5 strike targeted Russian-made Yakhont missiles in the Syrian coastal city, which neighboring Israel believed pose a threat to its forces.

The sources said the Israeli Air Force had carried out the strike.

Qassem Saadeddine, spokesman for the Free Syrian Army's Supreme Military Council, told Reuters last week, "it was not the FSA that targeted this; it is not an attack that was carried out by rebels.

"This attack was either by air raid or long-range missiles fired from boats in the Mediterranean," he said.

According to Israel-based news site Ynews.net, “no comment was made by Israeli sources thus far.”

On July 6, the website reported that the warehouse that was targeted “was located in a military base some 20 km outside the city.”

In a statement that day, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that "huge explosions shook the area where a large Syrian army base and weapons depots are located."

If the report is proven to be true, this would be the fourth Israeli strike in Syria in six months, according to Haaretz newspaper.

In May, Israel confirmed it had launched an airstrike on Syria, confirming earlier U.S. media reports.

The air raid on Syria targeted a shipment of advanced missiles bound for Hezbollah fighters in neighboring Lebanon, Israeli officials said in a statement reported by Al Arabiya TV.

In January this year, Israel bombed a convoy in Syria, apparently hitting weapons destined for Hezbollah, according to diplomats, Syrian rebels and security sources in the region.