Suspected pipeline attack leads to blackout across Syria

A suspected attack on a pipeline in Syria caused a nationwide blackout, the state news agency quoted ministers as saying early Monday.

The state news agency SANA quoted Electricity Minister Zuhair Kharbotli as saying the explosion on the “Arab Gas Pipeline” occurred after midnight Sunday between the northeastern Damascus suburbs of Adra and Dumair “led to an electricity blackout across Syria.”

He said it was the sixth time the pipeline was hit. Technicians are working to fix the problems and electricity should be restored in the coming hours, he said.

Video showed huge flames bursting into the air.

Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali Ghanem told SANA that the blast “may have been caused by a terrorist act,” but he provided no further details.

Syria’s oil and gas infrastructure has been hit over the past years by acts of sabotage but no one has ever claimed responsibility for such attacks.

The nine-year civil war that has killed more than 400,000 people has also badly affected Syria’s infrastructure and oil and gas fields, many of which are outside government control, causing state hydrocarbon revenues to plummet by billions of dollars.

In December, near-simultaneous attacks believed to have been carried out by drones hit three government-run oil and gas installations in central Syria. One of the attacks targeted the oil refinery in the central city of Homs.

In January, bombs planted underwater off Syria’s coast exploded, damaging oil facilities used to pump oil into one of the country’s two petroleum refineries.

Syria has suffered fuel shortages since last year. Western sanctions have blocked imports, while most Syrian oil fields are controlled by Kurdish-led fighters in the country’s east.