Car Bomb Hits Damascus Gas Station: 11 Killed, 40 Wounded

Crowded Station Had Just Received Supply of Fuel

It is a dangerous time to be looking for gasoline in Metro Damascus. For the second day in a row, a gas station that just got a fresh shipment of gasoline, packed with motorists, was destroyed, this time by a car bomb detonated remotely.

Red Crescent workers were shown at the site, in the religiously mixed Barzeh al-Balad District, in the wake of the attack, helping badly wounded people away from the area. At least 11 people were killed, 40 others wounded, and several vehicles were destroyed.

The attack comes as Damascus residents are still reeling from a missile strike against a gas station in the suburb of Mulelha yesterday, which killed at least 30 people and wounded a large number of others. That station too was hit just after getting a shipment of petrol. No one claimed credit for today’s attack.

As the civil war has ground on in Syria, oil and gas shipments have arrived irregularly, leading to hording and shortages. This has led to crowding at stations that have a supply, which has unfortunately also made them targets.

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.