At least 54 people killed when air strike hits gas station in Syria’s...

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At least 54 people were killed and dozens wounded when an air strike hit a fuel station in Syria's northern province of al-Raqqa on Thursday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The British-based group, which has a network of activists across Syria, cited an activist in the region saying that more than 110 people were among the dead and wounded.

Earlier in the day, a Syrian military helicopter that crashed near the capital Damascus on Thursday hit the tail of a passenger plane but the 200 people on board escaped unharmed, Syria's information ministry said.

Rebel fighters seeking to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad have often fired at planes and helicopters used by the Syrian military to bombard opposition strongholds, bringing down a helicopter on the outskirts of Damascus on Aug. 27.

Three days later fighters in the northern province of Idlib said they had shot down a fighter plane in the northwestern province of Idlib near the Turkish border.

Rebels short of anti-aircraft capability have also launched ground attacks on airforce bases in the north and east of Syria to try to counter the military's air power.

"Friends of the Syrian people" meet in Netherlands

Diplomats from more than 60 countries are meeting near the Dutch city of The Hague to discuss economic sanctions against Syria's ruling regime.

The group called "Friends of the Syrian People" is a coalition set up to discuss the situation in Syria after the U.N. Security Council was unable to reach agreement on a resolution condemning President Bashar Assad's regime.

Dutch Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal told reporters at the start of the meeting Thursday the financial sanctions are intended not only to lessen the regime's military power, but ultimately to help drive Assad out of office.     "It's not a question of whether he will leave, but when he will leave," Rosenthal said.

The meeting is focused on tightening loopholes and enforcing current sanctions, which include an oil and arms embargo.

International positions

On another note, Iraq denied a Western intelligence report saying that Iran has been using civil aircrafts to transport military personnel and large quantities of weapons across the Iraqi airspace all the way to Syria to help Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Lieutenant-General Hussein Kamal, Iraq's deputy interior minister for intelligence said that the official spokesperson of the Iraqi government denied this report altogether, adding “there is nothing like this happening.”

REUTER/LBCI

At least 54 people killed when air strike hits gas station in Syria’s al-Raqqa province