🇸🇾 A sabotage attack on a gas pipeline in eastern Syria has cut off gas to the country's power stations. State media says a valve on the line near Deir Ezzor, close to the Iraqi border, was blown up yesterday evening, sparking a fire and stopping gas from flowing out of the Al-Jabsah plant. It's the last thing Syria needed. Before the civil war, the country produced 30 million cubic meters of gas a day. Now it's down to 8.5 million, while demand sits somewhere between 22 and 25 million. Fuel prices have already been climbing, and Syrians took to the streets earlier this month to protest the hikes, with authorities blaming the regional war. Damascus signed a deal with U.S. oil giant ConocoPhillips in June to rebuild its gas sector, and it's quickly finding out that the hard part isn't producing gas, it's keeping people from blowing up the pipes. Source: AFP / Writer: Julie