Israel has been mounting covert attacks on Iranian ships carrying oil to Syria, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. 

It said that at least dozen ships have been struck, mostly by mines, since late 2019, with two forced to return to Iran. 

The operations led to an oil spill in the Red Sea in October 2019, the paper reported, quoting US sources. 

Iran is currently investigating an explosion on board a cargo ship, the Shahr e Kord, off the Syrian port of Latakia on Wednesday night; no one on board was reported hurt. 

An unnamed investigator told the agency Nournews that “considering the geographical location and the way the ship was targeted, one of the strong possibilities is that this terrorist operation was carried out by the Zionist regime,” Reuters reported. 

Israel has repeatedly launched airstrikes against Iranian militiamen in Syria in an attempt to stop the Islamic republic gaining a foothold on its border. 

Earlier this month this month Israeli’s Environmental Protection Minister Gila Gamliel suggested an Iranian tanker might have been responsible for a serious oil spill along Israel’s coast last month. 

On Saturday night, Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz stressed that Israel was “not responsible” for the pollution which has been viewed as the country’s worst environmental disasters. 

Israel has also blamed Iran for an attack which damaged an Israeli-owned vessel in the Gulf of Oman last month.