Dubai: Gunmen in inflatable dinghies attacked a military unit on Syria's Mediterranean coast, state media claimed yesterday, the first seaborne assault in a 13-month-old revolt against President Bashar Al Assad.
The official Sana news agency said several gunmen and soldiers died in the battle that followed the coastal attack near the northern port of Latakia, 35km south of the Turkish border.
"The fighting... resulted in the death and wounding of a number of military personnel while the number of those killed from the terrorist group was not known because they attacked the military unit at night," Sana said.
The nocturnal raid, along with the killing of at least 15 people in violence in two areas near the capital, underlined the threadbare state of a UN-brokered ceasefire deal that has western leaders talking of tougher steps to stop the bloodshed.
In Lebanon, the navy intercepted three containers of weapons destined for Syrian rebel forces on board a ship originating from Libya, a security official told AFP yesterday.
The cargo of the ship contained heavy machineguns, artillery shells, rockets, rocket launchers and other explosives.
Russia, meanwhile, said it backed delivering a "decisive rebuff" to "terrorists" operating in Syria.