Reports: Airstrike on Syrian Gas Station Leaves 54 Dead

Strike in al-Raqqa Set Off Fireball in Crowded Station

One day after Syrian rebels captured the border post at Tel Abyad, an air strike just south of the area has hit a gas station, causing a massive explosion and killing a large number of people, 54 according to some reports.

Details of the attack were unclear, beyond a Syrian warplane targeting the crowded gas station and killing a large number of people. Rebel factions claimed over 110 people had been killed by the attack.

Local rebel factions deferred on providing a death toll however, though one did say that at least 70 survivors had been taking to a nearby hospital in the provincial capital of Raqqa. Syrian state media hasn’t reported on the incident at all.

Whatever the final toll ends up, it seems almost certain this strike is among the deadliest for an air attack so far in the civil war, and will therefore be used to push the idea of a NATO-imposed no-fly zone at the UN.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.