Tag: unanswered questions

Over recent weeks, gas lines in eastern Syria and near Damascus have been hit by explosions, interrupting supplies to power stations and cutting electricity across large areas. Two attacks on sections identified as the Jbessa gas line were officially described as sabotage. 

A separate blast at the Tishreen plant remains under investigation. Their timing has drawn attention as Syria negotiates a role in the routes carrying Iraqi oil and regional gas to the Mediterranean and beyond. Even a limited strike on a pipeline can delay repairs, reduce power generation, and unsettle investors weighing projects that will cost billions. 

The question is who stands to gain from keeping Syria’s energy network vulnerable, and how much the available evidence can tell us about the perpetrators.

The Jbessa line & the Tishreen blast

The first confirmed incident came on August 18, when an explosion stopped pumping through the gas export line from the Jbessa gas plant in the countryside of Hasakah, northeastern Syria. The Syrian Petroleum Company said its preliminary investigation found deliberate sabotage. 

The line serves a region containing much of Syria’s oil and gas infrastructure, and the interruption affected gas deliveries to electricity turbines. Crews isolated the wells, closed the safety valves, and began repairs. No injuries were reported. That first attack showed how a strike on a single valve could reach far beyond the site itself, with electricity users elsewhere bearing the consequences.

On September 28, the Jbessa gas line was attacked near Al-Shula in the Deir Ezzor countryside. An explosion at a sectional valve set off a fire and again halted the flow of gas from Jbessa toward power stations. Energy Minister Mohammad al-Bashir later said explosives had been used. This time, the repair crews had to replace an 18-meter section of 16-inch pipe. The company announced on October 2 that pumping had resumed after the work was completed. 

According to its land-gas director, the line had carried about 950,000 cubic meters a day. Its repeated targeting has therefore struck a significant part of the gas supply on which Syrian power generation depends. The Jbessa line feeds the gas network through the central region, including the area around Al-Furqlus in eastern Homs. This matters at a time when Damascus is trying to repair existing infrastructure and build new cross-border links. 

The proposed Iraqi oil route to Baniyas on the coast is a separate project, and there is no evidence that the attacks on Jbessa directly targeted that future pipeline. Yet damage to operating energy facilities carries an obvious warning for governments and companies contemplating a much larger transit system across Syrian territory. They would need confidence that long stretches of pipe, pumping equipment, and the workers maintaining them could be protected.

Two other violent incidents occurred on September 30. On the Masyaf Bridge in western Homs, unidentified gunmen opened fire on a bus carrying civilian workers, killing seven and wounding four. Initial SANA reports described civilian workers, while regional reporting identified them as engineers and employees of a private electricity company. The attack occurred two days after the Shula sabotage, but no investigation has established a link between the incidents.

That evening, an explosion on a gas line supplying the Tishreen thermal plant in the Damascus countryside forced Tishreen, Deir Ali, and Al-Nasiriyah out of service, bringing wider power cuts. Firefighters contained the blaze, and the authorities began restoring gas supplies. Unlike the two Jbessa incidents, the cause was unresolved when Energy Minister Bashir spoke at the site. He said inspectors would determine whether a technical fault, an attack, or sabotage had caused the blast after the area cooled. 

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