By DOMINIC EVANS | REUTERS
BEIRUT: A Syrian pipeline carrying oil from the east of the country to a vital refinery in Homs was blown up on Thursday in what the official news agency SANA said was an act of sabotage by an armed terrorist group.
Opposition activists said flames and clouds of thick black smoke were seen at the site of the explosion in a suburb of the city, the epicenter of popular unrest against Syrian President Bashar Assad that began in March.
“This is the main pipeline that feeds the Homs refinery,” said Rami Abdulrahman of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The activist network also reported seven people killed in Homs on Thursday by snipers and in “random” shootings.
Popular protests began in Syria nine months ago, inspired by the wave of revolts across the Arab world. The ferocity of Assad’s crackdown on protests triggered desertions from the armed forces, and now thousands of army defectors have joined a guerrilla army staging hit-and-run attacks on security forces.
SANA said the pipeline was attacked in the Tal Asour area to the northwest of the refinery on the outskirts of Homs, a city of 800,000 where — activists say — about 1,500 people have been killed in the crackdown.
Black smoke is seen from Homs refinery on Thursday. (Reuters)
Note by the editors: The situation in Syria is unfortunately deteriorating from day to day. May Allah have mercy on all the people in Syria…