Syria Experiences Nationwide Power Outage
Syria has experienced a nationwide power outage due to technical malfunctions at several points in the national grid, Al Jazeera reports, citing a spokesperson from the Ministry of Energy.
The outage occurred on Tuesday night, and technical teams are currently working to resolve the issues. At this time, there is no indication that the outage was caused by an attack.
Khaled Abu Dai, director of the General Establishment for Electricity Transmission and Distribution, told the state news agency SANA that the outage was the result of a technical fault. He stated that efforts are underway to repair the problem and restore power as quickly as possible.
SANA later reported that power had been restored to the provinces of Homs, Hama, and Tartous and would gradually return to the remaining governorates.
Syria has been grappling with severe power shortages for years, with most areas receiving state-supplied electricity for only a few hours per day. Damage to the power grid has compounded the problem, making it difficult to improve electricity generation and distribution.
Historically, Damascus relied on oil imports from Iran for power generation. However, supplies have been disrupted since Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) led the ouster of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in December.
The interim government under President Ahmed al-Sharaa has pledged to improve the power supply by importing electricity from Jordan and utilizing floating power barges. Additionally, Damascus announced plans to receive two electricity-generating ships from Turkey and Qatar.
Despite these efforts, many Syrians remain unable to afford solar panels or private generator services.
Syria’s new authorities face the daunting task of rebuilding the country’s infrastructure after 14 years of conflict. They are also struggling to persuade Western nations to lift economic sanctions, which would help revitalize the Syrian economy.
Furthermore, the country has been subjected to a series of destructive Israeli attacks that have caused significant damage to essential infrastructure.
Since al-Assad’s removal, Israel has conducted numerous air strikes and deployed troops to a United Nations-patrolled buffer zone on the occupied Golan Heights. Even during al-Assad’s rule, Israel routinely targeted Syria, bombing alleged Iranian and Hezbollah targets.
