Syria Pipeline Blast Shuts Three Power Plants

A gas pipeline explosion in Syria’s Eastern Ghouta region on Wednesday cut supplies to three power plants, taking them out of service and prompting a warning that scheduled electricity rationing would increase, the Syrian Electricity Company said. The cause of the blast has not been identified. The company said the affected facilities were Deir Ali, Nasiriyah and Tishreen. The pipeline explosion occurred near the Tishreen power station in the Damascus countryside, according to reports citing state media. The loss of gas supply reduced the plants’ ability to generate electricity. A fire was still burning after the explosion, and specialized teams were responding, the company said. Officials did not provide an estimate for when the plants might resume operations. The company also gave no figure for additional outage hours, identified areas likely to be affected or specified how long the disruption might last. The company warned that reduced generating capacity would increase power-rationing hours. The reports did not quantify the expected increase or describe its geographic reach.