Sanctions-busting Iranian oil tanker on fire after ‘Israeli drone strike’ explosion off the coast of Syria

A FIRE has erupted on an Iranian oil tanker off the coast of Syria following a suspected Israeli drone strike.

Syria’s oil ministry said the blaze started after an attack originating from Lebanese territorial waters. 

Unconfirmed reports from Lebanon have claimed the attack was carried out by an “Israeli aircraft”. The Israeli military declined to comment on the incident to Reuters.

War-torn Syria has over the past year faced gasoline and fuel shortages, rationing supplies in government-held areas and hiking prices.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, claimed the tanker had sailed from Iran.

Observatory head Rami Abdurrahman said: "It’s the first such attack on an oil tanker, but the Baniyas terminal has been targeted in the past."

A shortage in oil has made Syria reliant on Iran for fuel - but recent US sanctions have targeted Tehran and Russia for shipping oil to Bashar Al-Assad's regime.

Baniyas houses a refinery, which along with another in Homs, covers a significant part of demand for diesel, heating fuel, gasoline and other petroleum products, according to industry experts.

TENSIONS RISE

Syria has seen its oil supplies plummet during a brutal civil war, with the number of barrels produced per day plunging from 400,000 before the conflict to just 89,000 last year.

Iran's Al-Alam television confirmed the tanker that had been hit was one of three Iranian vessels that had recently arrived at the oil terminal in Baniyas.

Syria's official state news agency (SANA) tonight said the fire had been extinguished.

The alleged drone strike come amid rising tension in the region between Iran, Israel and the United States.

In a report last month, the Wall Street Journal claimed Israel had targeted at least a dozen vessels bound for Syria and mainly carrying Iranian oil since late 2019.

Israel has also carried out hundreds of air strikes on Syrian soil since the civil war erupted in 2011. Most have targeted Iranian troops and Lebanese Hezbollah forces.