CAIRO: The Syrian government said an explosion on a main gas pipeline traversing the Middle East on Monday was the result of a terrorist attack, and the United States said it suspected Daesh militants of carrying out the sabotage.
The blast caused a blackout across Syria, but power was gradually being restored, officials said.
It took place on the Arab Gas Pipeline between the towns of Ad Dumayr and Adra, northwest of the capital Damascus.
"Assessments show that the explosion...was the result of a terrorist attack," Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali Ghanem said, quoted by state news agency SANA. He did not provide further detail.
In Geneva, the US envoy for Syria, James Jeffrey, said there had been an upsurge in Daesh activity in the southeast of the Syrian desert. Daesh 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.
Syria says pipeline blast that caused blackout was terrorist attack
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Syria says pipeline blast that caused blackout was terrorist attack
Syria welcomes lifting of US sanctions
- A foreign ministry statement in Damascus “welcomed” the step
- It urged “all Syrians in the country and abroad to contribute in national recovery efforts“
DAMASCUS: Syria’s foreign ministry on Friday welcomed the permanent ending by the United States of the so-called Caesar sanctions, paving the way for the return of investment to the war-ravaged nation.
The US Congress on Wednesday permanently ended the sanctions imposed on Syria under Bashar Assad, who was ousted in December last year.
The Caesar Act, named after an anonymous photographer who documented atrocities in Assad’s prisons, severely restricted investment and cut off Syria from the international banking system.
A foreign ministry statement in Damascus “welcomed” the step, calling it “an entrance to the phase of reconstruction and development.” It urged “all Syrians in the country and abroad to contribute in national recovery efforts.”
US President Donald Trump had already twice suspended the implementation of sanctions against Syria in response to pleas from Saudi Arabia and Turkiye, allies of the new government headed by former jihadist Ahmed Al-Sharaa.
But Sharaa had sought a permanent end to the sanctions, fearing that as long as the measures remained on the books they would deter businesses wary of legal risks in the United States, the world’s largest economy.
