Fire contained after reported Israeli attack on Syrian port

In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, flames rise from burning containers at the scene of a missile attack at the seaport of Latakia, Syria (SANA via AP)

Firefighters have contained a blaze that raged for hours in Syria’s port of Latakia, officials said, hours after Israel launched missiles from the Mediterranean Sea, igniting the fire in the container terminal. It was the second such attack on the vital facility this month.

The early morning raid on Tuesday was a rare targeting of the port, which handles most imports to Syria, a country ravaged by a decade-old civil war and sanctions imposed by the west. The previous attack took place on December 7, when Syrian media reported that Israeli warplanes hit the container terminal, also igniting a serious fire.