TEHRAN – Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday condemned the Israeli aerial strike on Syria’s port of Latakia on Tuesday morning, saying the attack is a brazen violation of Syria’s sovereignty, an act of aggression, and a clear example of the Tel Aviv’s objectives to create crisis and chaos in the region.

The attack is also an “inhumane and immoral action” and amounts to aggression against a UN member state, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said.

Khatibzadeh went on to say that Israel sees its security in creating instability in the region.

“The leaders of that regime (Israel), who can’t stand stability, security and calm in the region and have defined their security in the region as being unsafe and as unstable as possible, have violated and mocked all international rules, regulations and norms by launching successive attacks on the Syrian soil under bogus and baseless pretexts,” Khatibzadeh said, according to the Tasnim news agency.

He stressed that the Syrian government and nation have the legitimate right to defend themselves against the aggressors.

The Foreign Ministry spokesman also urged the international community to take the necessary measures to prevent the recurrence of such strikes which threaten regional peace and security, warning that “silence on such aggressive actions by the Zionist regime will encourage and give the green light to the regime to continue acts of aggression.”

According to Syrian state media, the Israeli air raid on the Mediterranean port cause “significant material damage”.

It was the second attack of Latakia in the current month. 

“At around 3:21am (05:21 GMT), the Israeli enemy carried out an aerial aggression with several missiles from the direction of the Mediterranean … targeting the container yard in Latakia port,” SANA state news agency cited a military source as saying on Tuesday.

Live footage aired by the Syrian television showed flames and smoke in the container terminal. Later on Tuesday, the Syrian government’s media office said emergency services brought under control fires that had broken out in the port’s container storage area.

The missile attack also wrecked the facades of a hospital, some residential buildings and shops, according to SANA.

Latakia is Syria’s main commercial port.