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Sunday, Dec 30, 2012 10:30 AM UTC

Syrian rebels capture oil pumping station

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Syrian rebels capture oil pumping stationFILE - In this Dec. 17, 2012 file photo, a man runs between debris after a mortar shell hit a street killing several people in the Bustan Al-Qasr district of Aleppo, Syria. 2012 was a year of storms, of raging winds and rising waters, but also broader turbulence that strained our moorings. Old enmities and grievances resurfaced in the Middle East, clouding the legacy of the 2011 Arab spring. And the number of dead in the Syrian civil war passed 40,000. (AP Photo/Narciso Contreras, File)(Credit: AP)

BEIRUT (AP) — Activists say Syrian rebels have captured an oil pumping station in the north of the country after days of fighting.

The Local Coordination Committees and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights say the rebels captured the station in the province of Raqqa on Sunday.

Rami Abdul-Rahman, who heads the Observatory, said the station receives crude oil from the nearby province of Hassakha then pumps it to the central region of Homs, home to one of Syria’s two oil refineries.

Rebels have captured in the past months several oil fields in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour that borders Iraq.

The Observatory said the rebels also captured a military post that used to protect the station.

Syria’s conflict which began in March last year has killed more than 40,000 people.

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