Israeli warplanes are reported to have attacked a shipment of missiles at a Syrian military base near the port city of Latakia.

Speaking anonymously Thursday, U.S. officials said the target of the Israeli airstrike was likely Russian missiles headed for the Islamic militant group Hezbollah.

The Lebanon-based Shi’ite group has been fighting alongside the Syrian government in its civil war against mainly Sunni Muslim rebels. It also fights the Jewish state.

Neither Israeli nor Syrian officials have confirmed the attack on the Syrian air base, which was hit late Wednesday or early Thursday. It is not clear if the strike succeeded in destroying the missiles.

Israel has reportedly attacked Russian or Iranian missile shipments inside Syria at least two other times this year, though it has not confirmed these attacks publicly.

Syria strongly protests the Israeli military intervention, but has so far failed to follow through on its threats of retaliation.

Also Thursday, the international watchdog overseeing Syria’s destruction of its chemical arsenal says the country has met a deadline to destroy equipment used to make the weapons. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons also said that all of Syria’s chemical weapons have been placed under seal.

The next step for Syria is detailing how it will destroy its chemical weapons stockpile by the middle of 2014. Syria agreed earlier this year to turn over its entire stockpile of chemical weapons to the United Nations for destruction, or face a likely U.S. military strike. Damascus has so far met all the deadlines agreed to under the deal.

Meanwhile, the human rights group Amnesty International issued a report Thursday calling on Syria’s neighbors, particularly Jordan, to ensure that refugees can freely enter those countries and not be forcibly sent back to Syria.

The group highlighted efforts that Syria’s neighbors have made to host more than 2 million people forced to flee the war and the immense strain that has created on providing services. But Amnesty says Jordan is placing “undue restrictions” on who can enter the country.

The fighting in Syria has killed more than 100,000 people since it began in March 2011.

Source: VOA