Militant rocket attack targets refinery, gas facilities in Syria’s Homs, disrupts production

The Syrian Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources says foreign-sponsored Takfiri militants have launched a barrage of rockets at the main refinery and two gas facilities in the country’s central province of Homs, causing minor damage and disrupting production.

The ministry said in a statement that the near-simultaneous attacks targeted the oil refinery in Homs, located more than located 160 kilometers (100 miles) north of the capital Damascus, and the two gas facilities – one south of the city and one in the desert to its east – at Saturday’s dawn.

The statement added that several production units were damaged as a result, and that repair teams were working alongside firefighters to try to restore output as quickly as possible.

Syrian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali Ghanem described the attacks as systematic and coordinated, emphasizing that firefighting teams immediately rushed to the scene and managed to contain the blaze within the first hours of the attacks.

He added that the attacks forced a number of production units in the three sites to go out of service.

Ghanem highlighted that technical teams have started evaluating the damage and maintenance works.

Although there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the triple attack, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said remnants of the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group were probably responsible.

The refinery in Homs is one of Syria’s two main refineries, covering most domestic demand for diesel, heating fuel, gasoline and other products.

The development came only a day after the Britain-based war monitor said Daesh militants had launched an attack on Thursday night on a gas field in the desert region in the eastern countryside of Homs, killing 13 government soldiers and four workers.

Syrian army troops clear more villages of Takfiri terrorists in Idlib

Elsewhere in the northwestern province of Idlib, Syrian government forces have liberated more areas in the southern countryside of the province from the grip of foreign-backed Takfiri militants.

Syria’s official news agency SANA reported that government troops have established control over the villages of Um al-Tineh, al-Madirseh and Bernan.

The came after fierce clashes with militants affiliated to the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham Takfiri terrorist group, formerly known as al-Nusra Front, SANA added, noting that army soldiers inflicted heavy losses upon them.

A number of the extremists, however, managed to flee to nearby areas, and a search operation is underway to hunt them down.

Earlier, the Syrian army had advanced in battles against militants in the same Syrian province, retaking five villages, including Um Jalal, Rabiah and Khraibeh.

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