Syria 'Gradually' Restoring Power after Rebel Attack

Syrian authorities were gradually restoring power Thursday after a rebel attack on a gas pipeline caused widespread outages and set off a huge blaze near Damascus's international airport.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights had reported power outages across Damascus province as well as in the northern city of Aleppo and the central city of Homs.

Electricity minister Emad Khamis said Thursday that "power is being gradually restored in some provinces after the securing of an alternative source of fuel," according to the official SANA news agency.

"Work is under way to restore the damage caused by a terrorist attack against a pipeline, and power should be fully restored within 48 hours," Khamis said.

Damascus residents confirmed that power had been restored in some parts of the capital.

An AFP correspondent had on Wednesday seen a large fire blazing near the airport, where a major power station is located.

Syrian authorities said they had extinguished the fire during the night.

"It is likely this was a large-scale operation planned well in advance," said Rami Abdel Rahman, the director of the Observatory, which relies on a network of activists, medics and other Syrians across the country.

In September, a similar outage was caused after a high voltage power line was sabotaged.