SYRIA HIT BY NATIONWIDE POWER BLACKOUT

A power outage hit Syria on Thursday, the Syrian Ministry of Electricity said, according to the official Syrian Arab News Agency.

Maintenance teams were working to identify the cause of the blackout and quickly restore electricity, an unidenti- fied source at the ministry told the agency.

Electricity blackouts have occurred frequently during the 5-year-old conflict engulfing Syria, but it is rare for the entire country to be affected at the same time, the Associated Press reported.

Previous blackouts were blamed on rebel attacks targeting the electricity network.