Four civilians including a Syrian Civil Defence volunteer were killed, up to 42 others injured, and one civilian went missing as a result of alleged Russian and/or Syrian regime shelling with surface to surface missiles on oil refinery stations in Tarhin and Hamran villages in Jarablus, Aleppo on March 5th. The Syrian Civil Defence referred to the targeted area as ‘fuel market’. The injured civilians endured burns as a result of the fires, as it took the Civil Defence volunteer teams more than 19 hours to put the fire off.
In the total toll of those killed and injured, Syrian Civil Defence said that four people were killed including a civil defence volunteer and 42 injured, 38 in Al Hamran and 4 in Tarhin.
The shelling caused huge fires which consequently led to the explosion of an oil tank killing the Syrian Civil Defence volunteer Ahmad Al Waki who was among the team working to put off the fires. Ahmad is a father of two children who are not older than 4 years. Local sources also named a missing civilian as Ahmad Al Junaid Al Barho from Marran village.
Syrian Civil Defence posted images and videos showing their volunteers respond to the fires and trying to put them off. The fires erupted in the oil refinery stations in Tarhin and fuel tanks that crossed through Hamran crossing.
The Syrian Observatory mentioned that over 180 oil tanks were burned and between 30 people were killed and injured. Step News said the losses calculated of the attacks amounts to 6 million dollars. “200 trucks were burned, 20 of them loaded with oil, in addition to the burning of 15 tanks and 4 oil burners, with losses estimated at 6 million dollars, as a preliminary outcome.” SCD said that the area was reportedly targeted with 7 missiles (Three Tochka missiles loaded with Cluster Bombs) and another 4 Tocka and Surface to Surface missiles also loaded with Cluster Bombs. More than 200 oil tankers were destroyed and 2 SCD vehicles were damaged during the efforts to put out the fire.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed that “Russian warplanes stationed near the Syrian coastline fired three surface-to-surface missiles near an oil market and oil refineries close to Al-Hamaran area in Jarabulus in north-eastern Aleppo. ” However, the source accused the Syrian regime of responsibility for attacking Tarhin. “everal rockets, believed to be fired from regime military barracks in Aleppo, hit refineries in Tarhin in the eastern countryside of Aleppo, which resulted in the outbreak of large fires in the area.”
The Syrian Network for Human Rights provided some details on the incident. “Russian carried out two synchronous attacks using long-range missiles on the eastern suburbs of Aleppo governorate. The first attack took place at 19:05 targeting the crossing at al Humran – a square where tanks loaded with fuel were gathered – in the area on the dividing line between the territories controlled by Syrian Democratic Forces and the Syrian National Army in eastern Aleppo governorate. The bombardment resulted in the deaths of at least three civilians and the injury of 23 others, in addition to the burning of dozens of tankers in the area. Less than an hour later, at 20:00, the same forces carried out another attack on the area against a group of fuel burners – rudimentary refineries used in refining operations for crude oil – in Tarhin village in the south of Jarablos city, also in eastern Aleppo governorate, resulting in the death of a Civil Defense member, named as Ahmad al Waki, while he was extinguishing fires that broke out in the area, as well as putting two emergency vehicles out of service.”
Shaam Network said “The Assad forces and the Russian forces targeted the fuel market in the Hamran area in the countryside of Jarablus city, and the oil burners in the village of Tarhine in the countryside of Al-Bab city, with surface-to-ground missiles, which led to the outbreak of huge fires. To put out the fires, three civilians were also killed and 27 others were wounded in the area.”
At the start, the Syrian Civil Defence said that the missiles source is unknown but later accused Russia and the regime for responsibility.
Step News correspondent said that the oil trucks belong to Ahrar Al Sharqiya and that most workers in the refinery belong to Ahrar Al Sharqiya.
The incident occured between 7:00 pm and 8:00 pm local time.
