Rocket fire targets Syria oil facilities – state media

DAMASCUS, Syria – Four different Syrian oil and gas facilities were attacked overnight, causing fires and some damage, the state news agency SANA reported Tuesday, February 4.

The news agency said the fires had been contained and that teams were assessing the damage.

SANA quoted Oil Minister Ali Ghanem as saying “terrorists and their sponsors… again attacked the oil sector and its facilities on Tuesday dawn.”

He said the targeted facilities were the Ebla and south central region gas plants, as well as the Al-Rayyan gas station and a refinery in the central province of Homs.

The attacks, for which there was no immediate claim of responsibility, came a week after frogmen targeted offshore pipelines.

The government had reported on January 27 that frogmen had planted explosives on underwater pipelines running to the Banias refinery, the second such attack in six months.

Syria’s almost nine-year war has seen the Damascus government lose control of key oil fields, forcing it to resort to importing oil.

Western sanctions on Syrian shipments as well as punitive US measures against government ally Iran have complicated the search for suppliers. – Rappler.com