Two Syrian pipelines damaged amid spate of attacks on energy infrastructure

Key points

• Two Syrian pipelines carrying gas and oil products were damaged in separate incidents on Thursday.
• The Baniyas-Homs pipeline leak was believed linked to an attempted fuel theft.
• No suspect or group was named for either incident.

Two pipelines carrying gas and oil products were damaged in separate incidents in Syria on Thursday, state media reported. The state-owned Syrian Petroleum Company announced the damage via the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), according to the reports.

The incidents are the latest disruptions to Syria's energy infrastructure after a series of suspected sabotage attacks in recent months, as the government works to revive its energy sector.

Details of the two incidents

An explosion struck the Jbessa gas pipeline in southern Hasakah province in the late afternoon. The company said the gas pipeline had been targeted in a "sabotage attack", according to SANA.

Hours earlier, damage to a pipeline carrying oil products from the coastal city of Baniyas to Homs caused a fuel leak. Oday al-Satouf, head of the company's media office, told SANA that a hole was found in the Baniyas-Homs pipeline in the Hadida area, west of Homs. Crews isolated the affected stretch and closed valves on either side, and repairs have begun while other teams monitor the area. State media said the leak was believed to be linked to an attempted fuel theft.

sabotage attack

— Syrian Petroleum Company

Supply and earlier attacks

Al-Satouf said gas would continue to reach power stations through alternative arrangements and that domestic gas supplies were unaffected, according to SANA. Neither SANA nor the company named a suspect or group responsible for the attacks.

More than a week ago, the company said an oil pipeline near Tal Hamis in Hasakah was damaged in a sabotage attack, and authorities had arrested those responsible. In late September, a fire broke out on a gas pipeline between al-Shoula and Deir Az Zor, halting gas flows from the Jbessa plant to power stations. Hisham al-Saleh, a gas sector official at the company, said gas pressure in the area fell as crews worked to extinguish the blaze. Syria has been working to restore its energy infrastructure and increase domestic oil production, including resuming operations at oil fields in Hasakah to supply refineries in Homs and Baniyas.