In brief
In a coordinated security operation, Syrian special services disrupted a planned sabotage of the oil refinery in Homs on July 17, 2014. No casualties were reported, and the detained militants were found in possession of suicide vests, improvised bombs, remote‑detonation equipment and detailed blueprints of the refinery.
On July 17, 2014, Syrian special services announced that a terrorist cell had been stopped before it could sabotage the oil refinery in Homs, the country’s largest refining complex.
According to the main general intelligence department under the Syrian transitional government’s interior ministry, the cell’s movements were tracked, the area cordoned, and the militants detained just before execution of the attack. The statement, cited by the SANA agency, noted that suicide vests, makeshift explosive devices, electronic equipment for remote detonation and detailed maps of the facility were seized from the detainees.
No casualties were reported among security officers during the operation, which involved a neutralization of several militants.
The refinery in Homs, together with the refining complex at the port of Baniyas on the Mediterranean coast, plays a key role in supplying petroleum products to the local market, according to SANA.
