Politics

Gas pipeline explosion knocks three Syrian power plants offline

Syria's electricity company said the Deir Ali, Nasiriyah and Tishreen power plants went out of service after an explosion on the gas line at the Tishreen plant cut the fuel supply needed to run them. RT Arabic reported that the blast hit near Hran al-Awamid in the Damascus countryside on Wednesday and that outages spread across wide areas of Damascus and its surrounding province. The cause has not been announced, according to the outlet.

سكاي نيوز عربيةWednesday, September 30, 2026, 22:08Covered by 3 sources

Illustrative photo: Electrical substation equipment and power lines silhouetted against a dusk sky. Photo by Andrew Van Hofwegen on Unsplash

Why it matters

The affected plants depend on gas to run, so a fault on a single supply line can disrupt electricity directly. Outages across Damascus and its countryside add pressure on daily services for residents, and the still-unannounced cause will shape how long repairs may take.

Background

Thermal power plants rely on gas as fuel, so a disruption to a supply line can shut down several plants at once. The incident comes amid a tense security backdrop described in coverage of Syria on the same day.

Key points

According to RT Arabic, the damaged line is the one that feeds the Tishreen thermal plant, and the explosion occurred near Damascus International Airport.
RT Arabic described the blast as "huge", and its headline referred to "explosions" on the line rather than a single one.
BBC Arabic's headline reported dead and wounded in an attack on a bus in Homs, in coverage that bundled the two events.
BBC Arabic described the events in Homs and the Damascus countryside as two separate attacks, coinciding with Israeli shelling around the village of Samdaniyah in Quneitra countryside.

How outlets covered it

Sky News Arabia confined its report to the Syrian Electricity Company's announcement that the three plants were out of service and the reason given, without specifying where the blast occurred or the circumstances. RT Arabic focused on the impact on power in Damascus and its countryside and on the location near Damascus International Airport, saying the causes were unknown. BBC Arabic placed the incident in a wider frame, pairing it in its headline with an attack on a bus in Homs and referring to two separate attacks and Israeli shelling in Quneitra countryside. The three outlets agreed that a gas line exploded in the Damascus countryside and that power plants were disrupted.