Reports of an explosion at a Syrian military base have prompted speculation of a new Israeli attack on Syria. Israeli officials would not confirm a report that their jets carried out a strike.<br /><br />The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the explosion took place at the Syrian air base in Lataika on the Mediterranean coast.<br /><br />An Obama administration official confirmed the attack happened overnight on Thursday but provided no details.<br /><br />Another security official said that the target was Russian-made missiles.<br /><br />The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to publicly discuss the attack.<br /><br />The attack happened at the same time that international inspectors announced they had finished dismantling Syria’s chemical weapons production facilities.<br /><br />UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has been in Damascusto try to shore up support for faltering peace talks to end Syria’s civil war in which more than 100,000 people have been killed <br /><br />On Wednesday he met President Bashar al-Assad who told him that negotiations to stop the conflict would only succeed if foreign powers ended support for rebels fighting to overthrow him.
