Syria Says Extinguishes Huge Fire near Homs Refinery, No Casualties

Syrian civil defense teams were extinguishing a huge fire that swept a number of oil tankers loading crude oil from an installation near Homs refinery. (Reuters file photo)
Syrian civil defense teams were extinguishing a huge fire that swept a number of oil tankers loading crude oil from an installation near Homs refinery. (Reuters file photo)
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Syria Says Extinguishes Huge Fire near Homs Refinery, No Casualties

Syrian civil defense teams were extinguishing a huge fire that swept a number of oil tankers loading crude oil from an installation near Homs refinery. (Reuters file photo)
Syrian civil defense teams were extinguishing a huge fire that swept a number of oil tankers loading crude oil from an installation near Homs refinery. (Reuters file photo)

Syrian civil defense teams on Tuesday extinguished a huge fire that swept a number of oil tankers loading crude oil from an installation near the country’s main Homs refinery after a blast that hit the depot area, state media said.

An explosion had earlier hit a government-owned crude oil transportation company in the city and oil tankers loading crude oil from the installation then caught fire, state media reported.

Oil Minister Bassam Touma said an unknown explosion that hit a tanker that was offloading crude oil to Homs refinery ended up engulfing seven oil tankers.

“The company and the refinery are fine,” Touma told state media as state television relayed live footage of the fires.

The governor of Homs, Bassam Barsik, was earlier quoted on state media as saying civil defense teams were working on extinguishing the fire that erupted during “the loading of crude oil”.

“There are no human casualties and we are working on containing the spread of the fire,” Barsik said.

The government did not say whether the blast and the fires were a result of an attack as it normally has done in previous incidents where it has blamed foreign-backed “terrorists.”

Officials privately however said they did not rule out such an attack in a war-torn country where violence has subsided but opposition factions still wage attacks in regime-held areas, targeting oil and gas installations.

There have been hit-and-run attacks on government forces in the central province of Homs in recent months by remnants of ISIS militants who take shelter in outlying, sparsely populated areas.

The Russian air force has also been active in recent weeks in helping the Syrian army bomb suspected hideouts of militants in the Homs area.

Both Homs refinery alongside Banias on the Mediterranean coast are currently facing supply shortages due to erratic supplies of Iranian crude oil to the sanctions-hit country that relies mainly on Tehran for its energy needs.

Syria has over the past year faced months of gasoline and fuel shortages, forcing it to ration supplies distributed across government-held areas and to apply several rounds of steep price hikes.



Israeli Airstrikes on Gaza Kill at Least 20 People

Smoke rises as people stand in a tent camp for displaced people, after an Israeli attack amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, December 22, 2024. REUTERS/Feras Nader  BEST QUALITY AVAILABLE
Smoke rises as people stand in a tent camp for displaced people, after an Israeli attack amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, December 22, 2024. REUTERS/Feras Nader BEST QUALITY AVAILABLE
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Israeli Airstrikes on Gaza Kill at Least 20 People

Smoke rises as people stand in a tent camp for displaced people, after an Israeli attack amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, December 22, 2024. REUTERS/Feras Nader  BEST QUALITY AVAILABLE
Smoke rises as people stand in a tent camp for displaced people, after an Israeli attack amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, December 22, 2024. REUTERS/Feras Nader BEST QUALITY AVAILABLE

Palestinian medics say Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip have killed at least 20 people.
One of the strikes overnight and into Monday hit a tent camp in the Muwasi area, an Israel-declared humanitarian zone, killing eight people, including two children.
That’s according to the Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, which received the bodies.
Hospital records show another six killed in a strike on people securing an aid convoy and another two killed in a strike on a car in Muwasi. One person was killed in a separate strike in the area,The Associated Press reported.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central city of Deir al-Balah said three bodies arrived after an airstrike on a school-turned-shelter in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp.
The Israeli military says it only strikes militants, accusing them of hiding among civilians. It said late Sunday that it had targeted a Hamas fighter in the humanitarian zone.
The war began when a Hamas-led group attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 hostage. Around 100 captives are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel’s air and ground offensive has killed over 45,200 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry says women and children make up more than half the dead but does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its tally. The military says it has killed over 17,000 of Hamas, without providing evidence.