Syria30 September, 20263 min read
Analysts Say Attacks Target Syria’s Gas Lines, Disrupting Dair Ali And Al-Nasiriya Power Plants
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Seven killed, four injured as gunfire hits bus carrying electricity workers near Masyaf Bridge, Homs. Gas pipeline explosions knock out three power plants after blasts near Damascus and Deir al-Zor.
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Pipeline blasts hit power
Analysts in Syria linked a gas pipeline explosion in eastern Rural Damascus to a broader pattern of attacks on energy infrastructure, with security and strategic affairs expert Asmat al-Absi saying the incidents cannot be treated as isolated or normal and describing a "targeting of energy production lines, specifically gas lines". The latest blast led to a massive fire and disrupted Dair Ali and al-Nasiriya power plants, while a similar incident in a gas line between the Shola and Deir ez-Zor regions caused a halt in gas pumping from the Jebsa plant. The electricity company employees’ bus in Misyaf was targeted on Wednesday, and al-Absi said the incident "falls within striking the energy sector as a whole."
The timing of the gas line strikes was framed around the shutdown of three generating stations after an explosion feeding the Tishrin power plant in the Damascus countryside, and authorities had not yet determined the reasons for the Tishrin plant explosion. Ahmad Hawas said the incidents come within cumulative pressures confronting the Syrian state and that targeting energy infrastructure adds an economic dimension to those pressures.
Who is behind it
Omar Kosh argued the attacks impose "challenges to protecting Syria’s energy infrastructure" and said it was essential to reveal the parties behind them, including whether the attacks were connected to local cells or foreign parties with interests in unsettling the Syrian government. Al-Absi said "we cannot accuse a single party," listing suspects that included "remnants of the toppled regime" and the Islamic State’s cells, along with those harmed by concentrating energy production in Syria and the Syrian state. Ahmad Hawas pointed to "remnants’ actions" striking Syria’s stability since the regime fell and described the economic challenge as the hardest obstacle for the Syrian state after the fall of the former regime.
Hawas said "understanding these developments requires searching for the parties that may benefit" and named powers with an interest including the SDF and ISIS, along with Iranian followers. The Syrian Oil Company signed a contract with American companies ConocoPhillips and Novo Energy to develop gas fields and increase production, and CEO Yousef Qabbalawi confirmed the government’s aim to support the energy system.
Security test for Damascus
Gunmen opened fire on a bus in western Syria, killing at least seven people as it crossed the Masyaf bridge in Homs, and Brigadier General Bassem Muhammad Shaaban said the attack was "an attempt to undermine the security and stability of the province of Homs." The violence coincided with an explosion and fire at a gas pipeline near Damascus that forced three power plants offline, and energy minister Mohammed al-Bashir said the cause of the Tishreen power station explosion was still unclear and could be "a technical malfunction, an attack or an act of sabotage." The Syrian Electricity Company warned the shutdown of the three power plants would increase power rationing hours due to dwindling electricity supplies, and it said the Wednesday blast was the third to hit Syria’s gas network in six weeks.
The same day’s bus attack and the Tishreen power plant blast underscored security challenges facing Damascus as it worked to consolidate control and rebuild military and security institutions, and the Syrian electricity company said the three plants had gone offline after the blast. The incidents prompted questions about the possible role of armed or security networks linked to the former government and said the available information did not yet establish a common link between the attacks.