Damascus goes dark after airport explosion

[agent46]

Source: The Daily Star - Lebanon

BEIRUT: The Syrian capital Damascus was hit by a power cut late Wednesday, shortly after an explosion near the international airport, residents said.

“A terrorist attack on a gas pipeline that feeds a power station in the south has led to a power outage in the provinces, and work to repair it is in progress,” Electricity Minister Imad Khamis said, quoted by the SANA official news agency.

“The whole city just went dark,” said a resident who lives in the center of the city and did not want to be identified. She said that she could see the “major glow of a fire” near the airport and the sound of heavy machine-gun fire.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based group that reports on abuses and battlefield developments using sources from both sides of the war, said the explosion was caused by rebel artillery that hit a gas pipeline near the airport. It was not immediately clear why power was cut to the city.


Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/Oct-24/235601-damascus-goes-dark-after-airport-explosion.ashx#axzz2ibfGiFiI

[kelliekat44]

1. OH my. Syria, Syria. Beautiful Syria where have you gone? Same as Lebanon. What a shame. nt

[Rhiannon12866]

2. More: Much of Syria blacked out by rebel attack on gas pipeline: government

(Reuters) - Much of Syria, including the capital Damascus, was hit by a power cut late on Wednesday after rebels attacked a gas pipeline, state media said.


"A terrorist attack on a gas pipeline that feeds a power station in the south has led to a power outage in the provinces and work to repair it is in progress," Electricity Minister Emad Khamis told state news agency SANA.

A resident in the center of Damascus who asked to remain anonymous said "the whole city just went dark" and she could see the glow of a fire near the international airport and hear heavy machinegun fire.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based group that reports on abuses and battlefield developments using sources on both sides of Syria's civil war, said the explosion was caused by rebel artillery that hit a gas pipeline near the airport.


http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/23/us-syria-crisis-blackout-idUSBRE99M13320131023



Smoke rises after what activist said was a fire near Damascus International Airport October 23, 2013. Credit: Reuters/Ahmad Alshmi

[quadrature]

3. civil wars are like that...nt