Gas and fuel pipelines attacked in Syria

Militants have destroyed gas and fuel pipelines in Syria which supply power stations in the southern part of the country.

Syria Electricity Minister Imad Khamis told Press TV that the sabotage attack executed on Thursday resulted in power cuts in the provinces of Dara’a, Sweida, Quneitra, Damascus and Rif Dimashq.

Repair teams from the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources are carrying out repair work at the site to ensure electricity in around 20% of the region.

Anti-government forces have been carrying out attacks on gas and oil pipelines across Syria since violence started in 2011.

In May 2012, armed militants set an oil pipeline belonging to al-Furat Oil on fire which is located in the eastern city of Deir ez-Zor, around 420km northeast of the capital Damascus.

Militants also damaged two oil and gas pipelines that run between Deir ez-Zor and the city of Palmyra in central Syria in October 2012.

A portion of a gas pipeline near Deir ez-Zor was also previously blown up, resulting in a loss of approximately 1.5 million cubic metres of natural gas.

The UN estimates that nearly 90,000 people have been killed in Syria since 2011.