On Saturday, a fire erupted in an oil tanker off the coast of Syria‘s Baniyas refinery killing at least 3 Syrians, including members of the vessel’s crew.
While the cause was not immediately known, Syria‘s state news agency SANA cited the oil ministry as saying the fire was caused by “what was believed to be an attack by a drone from the direction of Lebanese waters.”
With no further details given, the identity of the tanker itself remains a mystery. Even reports about casualties are conflicting.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the tanker belongs to Iran. However, when Iran‘s al-Alam TV claimed it was theirs, another Iranian news agency denied it.
Tanker Trackers explained that the vessel hit was actually a Beirut-registered tanker called WISDOM that was assisting the Iranian VLCC supertanker.
Initial close up images of the vessel WISDOM anchored off the coast of Baniyas, #Syria showing damage from an alleged drone strike yesterday. pic.twitter.com/5xzy7zLs9K
— Aurora Intel (@AuroraIntel) April 25, 2021
Until now there’s no official word on the matter nor any confirmation of who was behind the suspected attack.
Speaking to AFP, the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, said, “We don’t know if this was an Israeli attack.”
Meanwhile, Al-Mayadeen TV said the tanker may have been hit by an Israeli drone. Israeli media has since claimed that Israel had nothing to do with the incident.
