Syria: Tanker fire extinguished after possible drone strike


Its Ministry of Oil Syria announced that firefighters extinguished on Saturday the fire that had broken out in an oil tanker off the refinery in Bania, after an attack against it, possibly by a drone that came from Lebanese territorial waters.

According to Reuters, the identity of the ship is unclear, with the Iranian television network al-Alam reporting that the ship was one of the three Iranian oil tankers that recently arrived at the Syrian oil terminal with supplies, while the semi-official Tasnim news agency denies being Iranian.

The TankerTrackers website tweeted that “the tanker burning today off Banya was not an Iranian ship”, but registered in Beirut.

There is a refinery in the coastal city of Banya in Syria, which, along with another in Homs, covers much of the domestic demand for diesel, gasoline and other petroleum products.

The war-torn country has faced shortages of petrol and fuel in the past year, with the government being forced to impose restrictions on the quantities that citizens can buy and prices have risen sharply.

Syria has become increasingly dependent on Iran for oil in recent years, but tightening Western sanctions on Tehran, Syria and their allies, as well as Damascus’ limited foreign exchange reserves, have made it difficult to obtain sufficient reserves.

The Syrian agency SANA, which cites the announcement of the Ministry of Oil, did not give further details about the attack and limited to broadcast that it was launched by drone.

Iran’s al-Alam TV channel reported that an Iranian tanker was damaged, but Tasnim quoted “some sources” as saying: “The accident happened on another ship (…) and is not connected to a ship carrying an Iranian load”.

Damascus-based al Mayadeen TV reported that the tanker was allegedly hit by an Israeli drone. The Israeli army declined to comment on the report.

Neighboring Syria, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes since 2011, and with drones, against positions of Syria and its allies, the Iranian forces and fighters of Lebanon’s Hezbollah, another sworn enemy of the Jewish state.

Israel says it is seeking to prevent Iran from establishing itself in Syria. The Israeli army has rarely publicly acknowledged its blows in Syria.