20:04
Tieng Anh Vui
Israeli aircraft have carried out a strike near the Syrian coastal city of Latakia, a US official says.
The official said the strike targeted Russian-made missiles intended for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
Latakia is a stronghold of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, an important port city where the Alawite community to which he belongs is concentrated.
Israeli is widely reported to have carried out at least three air strikes in Syria so far this year.
Reports circulated on Thursday of explosions near Latakia, but the cause was not clear.
"Several explosions were heard in an air defence base in the Snubar Jableh area" said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based activist network.
Neither Israel nor Syria have commented on the reports.
But a US official said the strike took place overnight from Wednesday into Thursday.
Israel has repeatedly said it would act if it felt Syrian weapons, conventional or chemical, were being transferred to militant groups in the region, especially Hezbollah.
The BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut says the reports come at a delicate moment, with the Russians - who apparently made the weapons that Israel is said to have targeted - working closely with the US to get a peace conference on Syria off the ground.
Russia has been a key backer of President Assad's, continuing to supply his government with weapons during the conflict in Syria.
Mr Assad had promised to respond to any future strikes by Israel.
The uprising against Mr Assad began in 2011. More than 100,000 people have been killed and more than two million people have fled the country, according to the UN.
Đăng ký: Tieng Anh Vui
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