Weapons depot blasts kill at least 40, injure 120 others in Syria
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Rocket attacks struck government-held districts in the central Syrian city of Homs yesterday, setting off successive explosions in a weapons depot that killed at least 40 people and wounded dozens.
The blasts sent a massive ball of fire into the sky, causing widespread damage and panic among residents, many of whom are supporters of President Bashar Assad.
One resident said the explosions were so strong they cracked the walls of some buildings. Thick smoke and dust could be seen from a distance as explosions shook the ground.
A video posted online by activists showed a huge ball of fire over Homs neighborhoods.
The explosions in Homs reflected the see-saw nature of the conflict. It showed that despite significant advances by Assad’s military, rebels could still strike back.
An official at the governor’s office in Homs said about 10 rockets slammed into the neighborhood of Zahra and the nearby sports stadium, sparking a large fire and causing several casualties. He said the explosions caused massive destruction and wounded at least 130 people.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which closely monitors the fighting in Syria, said 40 people were killed and 120 were wounded — some critically — when rockets struck an arms depot, igniting the fire.
A resident of Homs corroborated that account, saying he heard blasts for more than an hour after the first explosion. He said they could be heard from the overwhelmingly pro-regime districts of Wadi Dahab and al-Walid, where the regime is known to keep arms depots.
“Rockets were falling on the area when the arms depot began to explode but we don’t know if the rockets triggered the blasts,” he said.
The resident said the explosions were so strong that “they shook parts of the city.” They also shattered all windows in the area and cracked walls, he added.
The explosions in Homs coincided with a rare trip by President Bashar Assad to a former rebel bastion near the capital Damascus to mark Army Day.
Assad’s visit to Daraya is his first known public trip outside the capital, his seat of power, in more than a year.
Assad said he was confident of victory against rebels.
The visit to Daraya and a defiant speech illustrate the confidence of a president who is taking the upper hand in a conflict two years after many Syrians believed he was about to be toppled.
“If we were not sure that we were going to win in Syria, we would not have the ability to resist and the ability to continue fighting for more than two years against the enemy,” Assad was quoted as saying by state news agency SANA.
Insurgents have seized large swathes of territory, but Assad’s forces have staged a counter-offensive in recent weeks, pushing them back from around the capital Damascus and retaking several towns near the border with Lebanon.
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