Its imported cargo include clothing, construction materials, vehicles, furniture, minerals, tobacco, cotton, and food supplies such as lentils, onions, wheat, barley, dates, grains and figs, and in 2008 the port handled about 8 million tons of cargo.

The embargo on Syria in response to Assad's conduct in the Syrian civil war has affected transshipment in the port since 2011.

[6] On 28 December 2021, shortly before dawn, the Israeli Air Force struck the port, causing heavy damage to a number of shipping containers.

[11] On the night of December 9, 2024, as part of a larger plan to neutralize Syrian military assets, the Israeli Navy launched a strike on warships in Latakia, sinking them.

Photographs from the port of Latakia revealed sunken Osa-class (Project 205) missile boats, with P-15M Termit (SS-N-2C Styx) launchers visibly protruding above the water’s surface.