Geolocation
Airwars assessment
At least three young men on an oil tanker were killed in alleged Israeli drone strikes off the coastal city of Baniyas on April 24, 2021 according to local sources.
A tweet from @SAMSyria0 reported that “the body of the young man, Ahmed Amin, from Arwad Island – Tartous, who is a crew member of the targeted ship, has been found. The search is still going on for the victims: the young man, Ahmed Mohammed, from the village of Balgons – Baniyas and the young Muhammad Hussein Yassin – Aleppo.”
A later tweet from @SAMSyria0 adds that “the young Ahmed Wafiq Muhammad, 18 years old, from the village of Balgons – Banias Tartous” has been identified as being killed on the oil tanker.
A Facebook post from Samaher Nasif added that Muhammad Hussein Yassin – Aleppo was also killed on the oil tanker.
Tik Debka reported that “other sources are clears that in the attack 4 of the crew of the tanker were killed, three of them Syrians.”
According to Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, there was “an explosion in an oil tanker coming from Iran, near the oil refinery in the coastal city of Banias.” At the time of their reporting, “it was not known whether the explosion was caused by a drone attack or naval attack on an oil tank within the tanker. The explosion caused fire and material damage, but no casualties have been reported.” SOHR later added that three Syrian people had died in the “burning of a fuel tank inside the Iranian oil tanker,” adding that “it is not known whether they are among the cadres working within the tanker.”
“The director of the observatory, Rami Abdel-Rahman, told Agence France-Presse, “At least three people were killed, two of them were crew members” in the attack, which caused a fire in one of the tanker’s tanks.”
Multiple sources, including the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency, alleged that the explosion was caused by a drone coming from Lebanese territorial waters but that the identify of the belligerent responsible was unknown.
According to a tweet from @NorsForStudies citing Russia Today, Moscow claimed that the tanker was not targeted and that the fire that broke out was due to negligence; Iran denied that the tanker belonged to them and identified it as being Lebanese; and the Syrian regime identified the tanker as being Iranian and blamed Israel for the strike.
@OQBAH33 attributed a drone strike to Israel and identified the tanker as belonging to Iran. A tweet from @IntelliTimes reported that Israel denied any connection to the attack on the tanker.
France 24 reported that according to Iranian media, the oil tanker was “one of three Iranian tankers that arrived shortly before at the Syrian oil port of Banias.” However, other sources contested whether the tanker was Iranian, with Reuters quoting TankerTrackers, who said in a tweet that “the tanker seen burning today off the coast of Baniyas is not an Iranian vessel”, but Beirut-registered and the semi-official news agency Tasnim denied it was Iranian.
CNN included details that “The “Al-Ahlam” channel quoted unidentified sources as saying that the tanker was targeted “with two projectiles, one of which hit the front of it, leaving partial damage, and the other hit its roof and caused more damage.”
The Israeli military declined to comment on the incident. @obretix geolocated this incident.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
The victims were named as:
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention a fire on an oil tanker named Wisdom, off the coast of Baniyas (بانياس). According to research conducted by @obretix, checked and confirmed by our geolocation team, the exact coordinates for this tanker are: 35.252280, 35.918130.
Summary
Sources (33) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (13) [ collapse]
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Caption translation: The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has monitored an explosion in an oil tanker coming from Iran, near the oil refinery in the coastal city of Banias. According to sources, the fires are unlikely to be caused by a technical failure. It was not known whether the explosion was caused by a drone attack or naval attack on an oil tank within the tanker. The explosion caused fire and material damage, but no casualties have been reported. It has not been conclusively confirmed whether the attack was carried out by a drone from Lebanese territorial waters, while the identity of the attackers remained unknown.
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Caption translation: Firefighting teams on Saturday managed to put out fire that erupted in one of tanks of oil tanker near oil downstream in Banias in Tartous. The Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources said in a statement that a fire that erupted in one of tanks of oil tanker is believed to be an attack by a drone coming from the direction of Lebanese territorial waters. The Ministry noted that the Firefighting teams were able to extinguish the fire fully. (Images posted by Syrian Arab News Agency)
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Caption translation: Firefighting teams on Saturday managed to put out fire that erupted in one of tanks of oil tanker near oil downstream in Banias in Tartous. The Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources said in a statement that a fire that erupted in one of tanks of oil tanker is believed to be an attack by a drone coming from the direction of Lebanese territorial waters. The Ministry noted that the Firefighting teams were able to extinguish the fire fully. (Images posted by Syrian Arab News Agency)
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Caption translation: Firefighting teams on Saturday managed to put out fire that erupted in one of tanks of oil tanker near oil downstream in Banias in Tartous. The Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources said in a statement that a fire that erupted in one of tanks of oil tanker is believed to be an attack by a drone coming from the direction of Lebanese territorial waters. The Ministry noted that the Firefighting teams were able to extinguish the fire fully. (Images posted by Syrian Arab News Agency)
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Caption translation: A car bomb exploded a short while ago in Baniyas, and there were reports of a drone attack on an oil tanker from the direction of Lebanese territorial waters. (Images posted by @SAMSyria0)
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Caption translation: A car bomb exploded a short while ago in Baniyas, and there were reports of a drone attack on an oil tanker from the direction of Lebanese territorial waters. (Images posted by @SAMSyria0)
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Caption translation: The martyrdom of the young Ahmed Wafiq Muhammad, 18 years old, from the village of Balgons - Banias Tartous, in the death of the attacking of the enemy of the oil tanker. (Image posted by @SAMSyria0)
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At least three young men working on an oil tanker were killed in alleged Israeli drone strikes on the coastal city of Baniyas on April 24, 2021 according to local sources. (Image posted by Samaher Nasif)
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Caption translation: The death of the young man, Mahmoud Muhammad Amin, on board the tanker that was hit by a target of an enemy (no official statement confirms that it was an accidental accident) off the mouth of the oil in Banias. (Image posted @SAMSyria0)
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Caption translated: Pictures from the oil tanker WISDOM carrying the Panama flag, which was involved in an accident yesterday near Baniyas. New reports deny that it was targeted by a drone aircraft and say that the reason was caused by an electrician, but there is no official statement from the Syrian M (Images posted by @SAMSyria0)
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Caption translated: Pictures from the oil tanker WISDOM carrying the Panama flag, which was involved in an accident yesterday near Baniyas. New reports deny that it was targeted by a drone aircraft and say that the reason was caused by an electrician, but there is no official statement from the Syrian M (Images posted by @SAMSyria0)
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Caption translated: Pictures from the oil tanker WISDOM carrying the Panama flag, which was involved in an accident yesterday near Baniyas. New reports deny that it was targeted by a drone aircraft and say that the reason was caused by an electrician, but there is no official statement from the Syrian M (Images posted by @SAMSyria0)
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Alleged Israeli strikes on an oil tanker off the coast of Syria. (Image posted by Israel Hayom)