Aleppo Explosion

Powerful Explosion Rocks Aleppo Ammo Depot in Latest Mystery Blast

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(ZeroHedge)—A terrifying blast erupted outside the major northern Syrian city of Aleppo overnight, which caused area residents to evacuate their homes, and with sustained explosions visible for miles around.

The explosion happened at an army base in an outlying town, injuring at least four people, after which a series of blasts persisted, which unleashed shrapnel across the area.

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State media outlet SANA later cited Ministry of Emergency and Disaster Management which indicated an ammunition depot was detonated.

Amid local evacuations, emergency crews were on “high alert… due to the continued explosions” – after being initially unable to get close given persisting and follow-on explosions.

An eyewitness in Aleppo’s Hamdaniyeh neighborhood told AFP of a “huge explosion” and that people in the area could see “large flames in the distance”.

Typically the first fear that Syrians have is that they are once again under attack by Israeli fighter jets, given this is a scenario which has played out literally hundreds of times over the past several years of conflict. There have been no initial statements describing what caused the disaster.

But several munitions and military warehouse accidents have occurred under the new Jolani government of late.

For example, in earlier September a Ministry of Defense weapons depot ignited and 14 people were killed.

Lately the country has been suffering extreme fuel prices amid efforts to get inflation under control, and amid stagnant wages and efforts to get the post-war economy back on track. Washington’s recent dropping of Assad-era sanctions have yet to bear any immediate fruit, however.

Several days of protests across various cities have persisted, after the new rulers in Damascus abruptly removed fuel subsidies for the population.

On September 13 the government decision saw diesel prices shoot up 40% and petrol prices by 28%, after not just years but decades of government regulated price controls and subsidies.

Is there a covert sabotage campaign afoot? The Israelis have of late occupied southern Syria, and have engaged in operations to ensure Syria has no advanced or heavy weapons or munitions…

Already the country was smashed by proxy war and sweeping US-led sanctions, not to mention a decade-long US troop occupation of Syria’s oil and gas fields in the northeast, which strangled the population, as part of efforts to overthrow secular Ba’ath leader Bashar al-Assad.