Attack In Central Syria Targets Oil Fields

An overnight attack, allegedly carried out by terrorists, in Syria’s central province of Homs was targeted at an oil refinery and two gas fields, state news agency SANA reported on Saturday.

The attack targeted the Homs oil refinery, as well as a gas factory and the Rayan gas field in Homs, causing damage to some production units, said SANA.

Citing the Minister of Oil Ali Ghanem, SANA said there is a systematic targeting of oil sectors in Syria.

He said that the maintenance work started immediately after the attack.

Talal Barazi, the governor of Homs, hailed the efforts exerted to extinguish the fire in the targeted facilities.

According to Xinhuanet, SANA stopped short of identifying the attack, but the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the energy fields were targeted by unknown drones.

The UK-based watchdog group said big damage was caused to the targeted facilities.

The overnight attack came hours after the Islamic State (IS) militants targeted a gas field in the remote desert eastern countryside of Homs, during which 13 soldiers and four workers were killed, according to the Observatory.

The targeting of energy sectors in Syria will negatively rebound on the livelihood of the Syrians, who are already feeling the pinch of cold with the electricity outages and the lack of cooking gas as well as the depreciation of the Syrian pound against the U.S. dollar.