Syria: Civilians killed in attack on oil company in restive north-west

At least four people were killed and three others wounded after the Syrian government targeted a major fuel market in opposition-controlled Idlib province, according to residents and the Syria Civil Defence, otherwise known as the White Helmets.

Residents told Middle East Eye on Wednesday that the attack in the village of Termanin, some 20km west of the Syrian city of Aleppo, targeted a fuel tank belonging to the Watad Petroleum company, triggering a large explosion.

Local media reported that the site was targeted by around 13 missiles, including a laser-guided "Krasnopol" missile. 

Laser missile attacks are a common method to strike southern Idlib, where reconnaissance planes give precise coordinates to launch rocket attacks.

"The fire is very big and the flames are blazing, so at first I with another people couldn't get closer than fifty metres from the [site] to try to find survivors," a local resident told MEE.

"There was news about the possibility of repeated bombing, so we fled to take cover among the olive trees. Then we went out with the civil defence teams, where we found three bodies that were reduced to pieces.

"There was a house and a car burning. The dead are civilians working on farmland around the place," he added.

The White Helmets, a group of rescuers who scour through rubble and debris in search of bodies, condemned the recent uptick in attacks on civilian areas.

"These repeated targeting of cities and towns in northwestern Syria are a clear violation of international and humanitarian law... while the international community fails to hold the perpetrators of these terrorist attacks accountable... civilians remain under direct targeting that threatens their lives," the group said in a statement.

Watad Petroleum has fuel tanks and depots located throughout Idlib province, and reportedly has a monopoly over the local market, fixing fuel prices in areas where it operates - compared to other areas north of Aleppo that are controlled by the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA).

The company operates in territory controlled by the Syrian group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). The armed group controls around half of Idlib province as well as slivers of territory in the neighbouring provinces of Aleppo, Hama and Latakia.

According to Watad Petroleum's latest prices on Telegram, the price of a litre of gasoline or diesel is sold at around $0.920, and the price of a litre of diesel filtered locally is sold for $0.504.

Meanwhile, the price of a litre of gasoline or diesel imported into areas in northern Aleppo controlled by the SNA sell for around $0.922, and the price of a litre of diesel filtered locally is sold at around $0.484.

Both regions adjust fuel prices from time to time, and despite the small differences in price, a local smuggling network has emerged that benefits hundreds of displaced civilians.

Idlib province is home to around three million people, half of whom are displaced, according to the UN, as a result of the decade-long conflict.

Displaced women and children living in nearby camps work in the smuggling trade, instead of men who may be subject to heavy penalties, fines and imprisonment if caught.

They often smuggle five-litre canisters, walking long distances so they don't get discovered. HTS sometimes confiscates smuggled litre-capacity diesel canisters in women's bags or from the backpacks of children and students.

Wednesday's attack comes less than a week after HTS forces opened fire on Fatima Abdul Rahman al-Hamid, a widow and mother of four suspected of smuggling diesel from areas under the control of the opposition-affiliated SNA. 

Since the beginning of the year, the White Helmets say they have responded to more than 85 air and artillery attacks in the country, which have killed 37 and wounded 80 civilians.