Iranian vessel docked in Syria attacked in possible Israeli retaliation

The incident follows two attacks attributed to Iran in the Gulf of Oman over the past two weeks.

By Tobias Siegal, World Israel News

An explosion on an Iranian oil tanker was caught on camera on Tuesday, in what some believe to be an Israeli retaliation for recent attacks carried out by Iran in the Gulf of Oman on maritime vessels affiliated with Israel.

The incident, which took place at the port of Latakia in Syria, was reported by the Syrian state news agency SANA. According to the report, a fire broke out on the empty ship while it was undergoing maintenance at the port.

Two crew members were injured after inhaling smoke caused by the fire, SANA reported.

The incident follows two attacks attributed to Iran in the Gulf of Oman over the past two weeks. The first, carried out on July 30, saw two crew members die after a suicide drone targeted the Mercer Street, a ship managed by a company owned by Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer.

The second incident was reported by the British Navy on August 3 as a potential hijack of a ship off the coast of the United Arab Emirates in the Gulf of Oman. However, Iran’s alleged ploy to hijack the vessel with a squad of five to six heavily armed Iranian commandos was eventually foiled by crew members who managed to report the attempted hijacking and alert the authorities in time.

In light of the heightened tensions between Iran and Israel in the region, some commentators have speculated that Tuesday’s explosion on the Iranian vessel was in fact a deliberate and covert operation carried out by Israel.

Similar attacks on Iranian vessels have been reported in the past few months and seem to be part of Israel’s ongoing campaign of disrupting Iran’s attempts of arming its proxies in Syria and Lebanon.

In March, Israeli media reported dozens of attacks carried out against Iranian ships throughout the Middle East, all of which were reportedly making their way to Syria.