Syrian authorities said late Tuesday that utility crews are gradually restoring power following a nationwide blackout.
“Power has been restored to the provinces of Homs, Hama and Tartus,” Khaled Abu Dai, director general of the General Establishment for Electricity Transmission and Distribution, told the state-run news agency SANA.
He added that electricity would return to the remaining provinces incrementally.
The restoration follows an earlier SANA report also citing Abu Dai which confirmed a “general power outage” across Syria about an hour prior, caused by “a technical fault in the electrical system.”
Abu Dai said at the time that crews were working urgently to repair the glitch and restore power as quickly as possible, though he offered no further details on the cause or expected repair time.
Syria’s electrical infrastructure has faced severe challenges, particularly since the start of the 13-year civil war in 2011, which devastated an already strained energy system.
In March this year, Qatar launched an initiative to deliver natural gas to Syria via Jordan, targeting the generation of 400 megawatts (MW) of electricity daily at the Deir Ali power plant south of Damascus.
Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s leader for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia on Dec. 8 last year, ending the Baath Party regime, which had been in power since 1963.
Ahmed al-Sharaa, who led anti-regime forces to oust Assad, was declared president for a transitional period on Jan. 29.
