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On Wednesday night, Israel bombed several military targets in Syria, including two airports – Hama military airport and the T4 base near Homs.

Syria's foreign ministry said the bombardment virtually destroyed the Hama base.

Some analysts compared Israel's intense air strikes on Hama airport this week with the much lighter bombing on the edge of the T4 base, suggesting that Turkey may have already moved some equipment there and that Israel was calibrating its attack to avoid a full-blown escalation.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitoring group, has since said more than 1,400 civilians were killed in Latakia and its neighbouring provinces Tartous, Hama and Homs.

A war monitoring group says that more than 1,400 civilians have been killed since 6 March - most of them Alawites - in Latakia and the neighbouring provinces of Tartous, Hama and Homs.