The pipe exploded in the capital Damascus on Sunday night.

The explosion damaged a stretch of the Arab Gas Pipeline between the towns of Al-Dumayr and Adra in Damascus governorate, leading to a pressure drop and cascading shutdowns of the country’s power stations, according to Syria’s Electricity Minister, Mohammad Zuhair Kharboutli.

BREAKING: Total blackout in #Syria after an explosion on the Arab Gas Pipeline near al-Dumair and Adraa, Damascus countryside. Electricity minister Mohammad Kharboutli said the incident “led to an electricity blackout across Syria”. Power is gradually being restored to provinces. pic.twitter.com/hLmNCgpJgc

— Richard Medhurst 🇸🇾🇵🇸 (@richimedhurst) August 24, 2020

The blast “may have been caused by a terrorist act” and “led to power cuts in all of Syria” said the Syrian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources.

“After assessing the situation, it became clear that the explosion that occurred on the Arab gas pipeline… was caused by a terrorist attack.”

Firefighters were still fighting the blaze several hours after the explosion.

Syria’s Electricity Minister, Mohammad Zuhair Kharboutli refused to speculate about possible causes of the latest blast himself,  but mentioned that this was the sixth time that stretch of the gas pipeline has been hit by an explosion over the course of the Syrian conflict.

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