Continuing its heavy strikes in Syria after the fall of the Assad regime, Israel on Sunday (Dec 15), carried out its most violent attack since 2012 in the region, as per a report by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). A video going viral on social media showed an Israeli bomb going off in northwestern Syria near the city of Tartus, leading to a supposed giant mushroom cloud fireball. The explosion was so powerful that it was measured as a 3.1 magnitude earthquake on the seismic sensor, according to a war monitor group, cited by various media reports.
A report in The Times of Israel stated that several Hebrew media channels were attributing the bomb strikes to Tel Aviv. “A 3.1 magnitude temblor is reported by the Geographic Survey of Israel’s seismology department at 11:49 p.m. last night, with its epicentre about 28 kilometres (17 miles) off the coast of the city of Banias,” the report highlighted.
A Massive Explosion seen in Northwestern Syria near the City of Tartus, following an Israeli Strike against a Munitions Depot; with the Explosion reported to have been so large, that it measured as a 3.0 Magnitude Earthquake on nearby Seismic Sensors. pic.twitter.com/i1jC1vNjVJ
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) December 15, 2024
US-based researcher Richard Cordaro said the signal of the earthquake triggered by the bomb, travelled 2x fast when compared to an ordinary earthquake.
“The #explosion of the ammunition depot at #Tartus, Syria was detected at Iznik, Türkiye magnetometer station 820 km away. Signal took 12 minutes to travel in the lower ionosphere. That’s about twice as fast as earthquake signals travel,” wrote Mr Cordaro on X.
Thank you, @CeciliaSykala . The #explosion of the ammunition depot at #Tartus , Syria was detected at Iznik, Türkiye magnetometer station 820 km away. Signal took 12 minutes to travel in the lower ionosphere. That’s about twice as fast as earthquake signals travel. https://t.co/rs2nH1wtwL pic.twitter.com/3u4KYbD57f
— Richard Cordaro (@rrichcord) December 16, 2024
As per SOHR, the Israeli planes launched intense strikes in the coastal region to target air defence units, “surface-to-surface missile depots” and other sites.
“Israeli fighter jets targeted the missile launchers in the 107th Barracks in Hama area and weapon depots in Tartus countryside. However, no casualties were reported,” read the report.
“These are considered the most violent strikes in the area of the Syrian coast since the start of the airstrikes in 2012,” it added.
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Israel to remain in Syria
Last week, Israeli Defence Minister, Israel Katz, ordered the military to be prepared to remain in the UN-patrolled buffer zone that separates Syrian and Israeli forces on the Golan Heights, throughout the winter.
“Due to the situation in Syria, it is of critical security importance to maintain our presence at the summit of Mount Hermon, and everything must be done to ensure the (army’s) readiness on-site to enable the fighters to stay there despite the challenging weather conditions,” Katz’s spokesman said.
The plan to stay put comes in the backdrop of Israeli forces returning from southern Lebanon after fighting Hezbollah for months while the war in Gaza with Hamas continues.