TEHRAN — A series of strong earthquakes rocked southern Iran on Saturday, killing at least five people and causing damage to dozens of buildings, state media reported.

The quakes, including two of magnitude 6.0, struck west of the major port city of Bandar Abbas in Hormozgan province, the US Geological Survey said.

The first rattled an area north of the town of Dezhgan shortly after 2:00 am (2130 GMT), before a 5.7 tremor hit two hours later followed quickly by the second 6.0 magnitude quake, said the USGS.

Hormozgan governor Mehdi Dousti said five people were killed, as cited by the official news agency IRNA.

Dousti said most of the damage occurred in the village of Sayeh Khosh, close to the epicenter.

People sit by the rubble amidst destruction in the aftermath of a 6.0 magnitude earthquake in the village of Sayeh Khosh village in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province on July 2, 2022 (Amir HOSSEIN TALEBI / ISNA / AFP)

Ambulances and other vehicles tried to navigate roads covered in debris as shocked residents took to the streets or tried to recover items from their flattened homes.

People also spent the night outdoors in the provincial capital Bandar Abbas, with a population of more than 500,000, located about 100 kilometres (60 miles) east of the epicenters, where long queues formed in front of gas stations, state media reported.

Village half destroyed

The Red Crescent said in the morning that search and rescue operations were nearly over.

“We are concentrating on housing the victims of the earthquake,” Dousti told television, adding that half of Sayeh Khosh was destroyed.

Iran sits astride the boundaries of several major tectonic plates and experiences frequent seismic activity.

This picture taken on July 2, 2022 shows a view of destruction in the aftermath of a 6.0 magnitude earthquake in the village of Sayeh Khosh village in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province (Amir HOSSEIN TALEBI / ISNA / AFP)

The Islamic Republic’s deadliest quake was a 7.4-magnitude tremor in 1990 that killed 40,000 people in the north, injured 300,000 and left half a million homeless.

In 2003, a 6.6-magnitude quake in southeastern Iran levelled the ancient mud-brick city of Bam and killed at least 31,000 people.

In November 2017, a 7.3-magnitude quake in Iran’s western province of Kermanshah killed 620 people.

In December 2019 and January 2020, two earthquakes struck near Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant.

Iran’s Gulf Arab neighbors have raised concerns about the reliability of the country’s sole nuclear power facility, which produces 1,000 megawatts of power, and the risk of radioactive leaks in case of a major earthquake.

In February 2020, a magnitude 5.7 earthquake in northwestern Iran killed nine people, including children, in neighboring Turkey and injured dozens on both sides of the border.

One person was killed in November last year when Hormozgan province was hit by twin 6.4 and 6.3 magnitude quakes.

Israel carried out a rare daylight airstrike along the southern Syrian coast on Saturday morning, Syria’s state-run broadcaster SANA said. injuring two people.

There was no comment from the Israel Defense Forces, in line with its policy of not generally commenting on air raids in the country.

Quoting a military source, SANA said the missiles were launched by Israeli fighter jets over the Mediterranean Sea, west of the north Lebanon city of Tripoli, at the Syrian town of al-Hamidiyah, south of Tartus.

According to SANA, “poultry farms” were targeted in the airstrike, and two civilians were hurt. Their conditions were not immediately clear. Damage was also caused to the site.

Syria often claims targets of Israeli strikes as being non-military.

Israel has staged hundreds of strikes on targets in Syria over the years but rarely acknowledges or discusses such operations. It says it targets bases of Iran-allied militias, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah group that has fighters deployed in Syria, as well as arms shipments believed to be bound for various proxies.

While alleged Israeli attacks in Syria typically take place under the cover of darkness, Saturday’s strike was allegedly conducted at around 6:30 a.m. while the sun was out, according to SANA.

Israeli strikes have continued in Syrian airspace, which is largely controlled by Russia, even as ties with Moscow have deteriorated in recent months. Israel has found itself at odds with Russia as it has increasingly supported Ukraine while seeking to maintain freedom of movement in Syria’s skies.

Saturday’s strike marked the first such raid attributed to Israel under Prime Minister Yair Lapid, who entered the role on Friday morning.

The last strike in Syria attributed to Israel was on June 10, when the Damascus International Airport was targeted in a major attack and forced to be shuttered for two weeks, following accusations by Israel that Iran had been smuggling weaponry to the Lebanese Hezbollah terror group, via civilian flights to Syria.