Breaking: Huge Explosions Kill 22 In Syria's Homs

Huge Explosions Kill 22 In Syria's Homs

A huge explosion at a weapons depot rocked the city of Homs sending a fireball hundreds of feet into the air and killing 22.

Video of the blast was posted on YouTube by activists opposing the Bashar al Assad regime, who said dozens had also been wounded.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said: "At least 22 people, including civilians, were killed and dozens wounded, some seriously, when an ammunitions depot blew up in the pro-regime Wadi al-Zahab district after rocket fire, most probably by rebels."

news.sky.com...

PressTV: 22 killed in ammunition depot blast in Syria's city of Homs

At least 22 people have been killed and dozens wounded in Syria’s western city of Homs in an ammunition depot blast reportedly caused by a rocket fired by foreign-backed militants.

www.presstv.com...

Nothing on RT, CNN or Aljazeera yet.

Looks like a large explosion. According to the sky news article its was blamed on rebel rocket fire but that looks to me like either a cuise missile strike or a ship launched missile. Hmmm I wonder if Israel had anything to do with it. We will have to wait until they either not deny or confirm or just say nothing to prove it was them. Who ever did it, it has resulted in a big booooom. Sometime soon some one is going to drop the match that will ignite everything a bit like that weapons dump. I wonder if there where any russian s300 missiles stored there?

Originally posted by jroduk
According to the sky news article its was blamed on rebel rocket fire but that looks to me like either a cuise missile strike or a ship launched missile.

Based on what?

Based on the fact that there was a HUGE mushroom cloud after the explosion. Ok it is a ammo dump but it was a big explosion. If you are going to distroy a ammo dump you would use a larger Missile than a few shoulder launched jobs. I am comparing it to other missile strikes that I have seen and that looks to me like a cruise missile strike.

Example bellow from Iraq air stike by cruise missiles.



Looks similar to me.

reply to post by jroduk


Why use a big missile when the ammunition stored there is going to provide all the boom you need. You don't need a big missile when you're hitting an ammo dump, a shoulder fired rocket, or an MLRS type system (which the rebels have) would work perfectly.

Big explosion doesn't mean big missile. It just means there was something there to add to the explosion. In this case, a lot of ammunition.

Maybe so but just think of this if there where any chemical weapons there then it would make sence to use a large missile to nuke the chemical weapons unusable.

More info:-

Alarabiya: At least 40 killed in Syrian weapons depot blast, NGO says

At least 40 people were killed and 120 wounded in an arms depot blast Thursday in a government-held area of Homs in central Syria, a monitoring group said.

Initially, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 22 were killed in the explosion.

“At least 22 people, including civilians, were killed and dozens wounded, some seriously, when an ammunitions depot blew up in the pro-regime Wadi al-Zahab district after rocket fire, most probably by rebels,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which gathers its information from medics and activists on the ground.

It added that the casualities included soldiers as well as civilians and that some were in critical condition.

english.alarabiya.net...

Seems like they are all singing off the same hymn sheet.

Times of Israel: Explosions rock regime districts in Syrian city

Huge explosions rocked regime-held districts in the central Syrian city of Homs on Thursday, sending a massive ball of fire into the sky and causing successive blasts that activists said likely came from a struck weapons depot.

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A Homs resident said thick smoke and dust could be seen from a distance, as explosions shook the ground and panicked those nearby.

A video posted online by activists showed a huge ball of fire over Homs neighborhoods.

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. He visited the battered Baba Amr district in the central city of Homs after troops seized it from rebels in March 2012.

It also is the latest sign of confidence from Assad, whose troops have been on the offensive and scored significant gains against rebels in recent months. Assad pledged victory over troops fighting to topple him.

www.timesofisrael.com...

Other news that maybe connected

‘Israel failed to fully destroy target in Syria airstrike’

An alleged Israeli airstrike on a weapons warehouse in Syria failed to destroy some of the Russian-made cruise missiles that were its target, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

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American officials told the paper that while the Israeli strike destroyed the warehouse in which the weapons were stored, some of the missiles were seen moved from the site after the strike.

Further Israeli attacks against targets in Syria are likely, the report said.

The US officials revealed that the Israeli attack had been carried out by aircraft that flew low over the Mediterranean and fired missiles at their target without entering Syrian airspace.

The July 5 airstrike reportedly targeted Russian anti-ship Yakhont missiles, which would constitute game-changers if they were to be transferred to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Israel has warned that any delivery of advanced weapons to the Shi’ite militia was a “red line” that would precipitate military action.

According to the Times, the Israeli and American navies consider the Yakhont a serious threat to their fleets.

www.timesofisrael.com...

reply to post by jroduk


There's a lot of "if" and "then" there. If there were chemical weapons there, then the only sure way to take them out, short of taking the facility with ground troops, is with a nuclear, or FAE type weapon. This was neither. The rebels were attacking the facility, and it was on fire before the large explosion took place. This was a rocket attack, that set off the weapons stored there.

Allaaaaaaah Akbar!!

Who said anything about Nuclear? Not I

I dont deny that the MSM are reporting that the rebels with the fireworks started a fire that then conveniently blew up the ammo dump. I am just saying that it looks a little more larger than a simple fire that caused that exsplosion and that in 'my opinion' it was caused by a cruise missile or a sea launched missile.

That is HUGE!!! Looks like the city will be caught on fire. However, this is the reality of war and targets would happen with lots of people and whatnot.

Originally posted by Zaphod58
reply to post by jroduk

 

Why use a big missile when the ammunition stored there is going to provide all the boom you need.

edit on 8/1/2013 by Zaphod58 because: (no reason given)

Any chances of testing prototypes? Possibly laser based weapon system? Just a WAG.

reply to post by jroduk


I didn't say that you did say nuclear. I said the only way to be absolutely sure that any chemical weapons were destroyed, other than boots on the ground, was a nuclear or FAE type weapon.

And I respect your opinion, but I think you are wrong. We don't know how many rockets hit, but from another video smoke was already coming up from the building before the explosion.

reply to post by hp1229


Possible, but unlikely. The rebels have a 220mm MLRS. That would do a lot of damage.

any one from U.N do a Air Quality?,,,or from anywhere,,down wind,,,

reply to post by Zaphod58


No probs Zaphod You have some good points also. I was just trying to get my own idea across Its all cool

It could have easily been a dumb accident or from a fire that got out of hand. Or just plain human stupidity.

When the 2/11 ACR Doha motor pool exploded it was a mix of all of the 'above.'

That was not one of my better days in the Army, as I was 'way to close' when it happened. (Close enough to see the tower of fire from the ammo cat that caught fire, far enough away that the explosion just knocked me down and didn't kill me outright.Then there was all the debris falling out of the sky & stuff cooking off... )

Big accidents like that do not take enemy action....

M.