Syrian capital hit by terror blast
Attack on gas pipeline condemned as cowardly act
AN EXPLOSION early yesterday struck a gas pipeline in a Damascus suburb, causing a huge fire and cutting off electricity throughout Syria, state media reported, citing the country’s electricity and oil ministers.
Oil Minister Ali Ghanem said the explosion struck the line that feeds three power stations in southern Syria, calling the incident “a cowardly terrorist act”.
Ghanem spoke to journalists who visited the blast site near the suburb of Dumair, north-east of the capital.
Syria’s oil and gas infrastructure has been hit over the past years by acts of sabotage, but no one has claimed responsibility for such attacks.
The nine-year civil war, which has killed more than 400 000 people, has also badly affected oil and gas fields, many of which are outside government control.
State news agency Sana quoted Electricity Minister Zuhair Kharbotli as saying the explosion on the “Arab Gas Pipeline” occurred after midnight yesterday between the north-eastern Damascus suburbs of Adra and Dumair. He said it was the sixth time the pipeline was hit. Technicians were working to fix the problems and electricity should be restored in the coming hours, he said.
Ghanem said the pipeline was attacked in this same desert area six times in recent years. He said it pumps 7 million cubic metres of natural gas to power stations that supply much of Syria with electricity.
US Syria envoy James Jeffrey said the attack was “almost certainly a strike” by the Islamic State group. The extremists were driven from the last bit of territory under their control in Syria last year, but sleeper cells continue to carry out sporadic attacks.
Jeffrey said there has been an upsurge in IS activities in desert areas in eastern and south-eastern Syria near the border with Jordan and Iraq.
The envoy is in Geneva for the start of UN-mediated talks involving the Syrian government, opposition and civil society. They plan to discuss a possible new constitution, part of a process that has produced few concrete results so far.
IS militants have claimed responsibility for attacks over the past months that killed scores of government troops and members of the US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.
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.
Information Minister Imad Sara said the aim of these attacks is to pressure government supporters to demand that the state make concessions to its rivals. He added that “what was not taken by war will not be taken by dialogue or explosions”.
The Islamic State lost its last territory in Syria in March 2019 but pockets of fighters remain.
“We are still looking into (the explosion). But it was almost certainly a strike by Isis,” Jeffrey told reporters at the start of UN-sponsored talks on the Syria conflict.
The Arab Gas Pipeline system extends from Egypt into Jordan and Syria.
Syrian state-run Ikhbariya TV channel showed footage of a large fire after the explosion. The channel said later the blaze had been extinguished.
A Damascus resident said power had returned to the city.
In 2013, much of Syria was hit by a power cut after rebel shelling hit a gas pipeline.