Syria. Explosion in the Damascus province

1 Syria

The ‘SANA’ reports while citing a statement from the Minister of Oil and Mineral Resources of Syria, Ali Ghanim, that an explosion on a gas pipeline in south of Syria left the whole country without electricity. The explosion took place on a section of the gas pipeline between the cities of Doumeir and Adra, in the Damascus province. Several buildings were damaged by the blast. The minister added that the explosion occurred as a result of a terrorist attack. 3 power plants went out of order. The fire after the explosion was extinguished by the firefighters. The minister concluded that the technical specialists have fixed the problems at all the power plants in the country — each of them is now ready to work.

2 Syria

The Syrian Prime Minister, Hussein Arnus, called the explosion on the gas pipeline in the Damascus province to be «a message from terrorists», delivered right before the talks of the small group of the Syrian Constitutional Committee. “That was a message from the terrorists before the negotiations of the small constitutional commission, which, as you know, starts today. They want to remind us that their language is destruction and harm” — Arnus stated and added that all the damage to the gas pipeline, caused by the terrorist attack, will be fixed by the end of the day. He added that the power-grid was restored in the Syrian provinces by 60% within 3 hours after the explosion. The electricity was restored in Damascus an hour after the event. The Syrian Constitutional Committee resumes its work on Monday, after a 9-month hiatus. The government and the opposition representatives will gather in a small group in Geneva, under the UN flag, to continue the discussions on the Syrian new constitution.

3 Philippines

The ‘CNN Philippines’ reported that 2 explosions took place in the south of Philippines. The explosions took place in the city of Holo, in the Sulu province, at 11:53 and about 13:00, by local time. The second explosion was made by a suicide bomber. The ABS-CBN reported on Twitter that at least 9 people died, and dozens were injured. The newspaper «Manila Bulletin» specifies that about 40 people were injured, including 22 civilians. The spokesman for the 11th Infantry Division, Ronaldo Mateo, stated that 5 soldiers were killed in the explosion. Another 18 were injured.

4 Israel

The IDF press service reported on Twitter that in response to the launch of balloons with explosives — the IDF launched a series of attacks on Monday on the facilities of the radical movement ‘Hamas’ in the Gaza Strip. «Recently the IDF fighters, tanks, and aircraft attacked military positions and underground infrastructure of the terrorist organization ‘Hamas’ in the south of the Gaza Strip. The attack was carried out in response to the launch of balloons with explosives and combustible materials from the Gaza Strip at Israel, over the past day» — the message explained. The launch of explosive balloons from the Gaza Strip at the Israeli territory resumed after a long hiatus in early August.

5 Belarus

The press service of the Ministry of Defense of Belarus reported about an attempt to violate the country’s airspace by Lithuania with balloons with attached anti-state symbols. «Thanks to the actions of the crews of several Mi-24 helicopters — the flight of the balloons was stopped without the use of weapons» — the message explained. The press service of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry reported that the Lithuanian Ambassador to Belarus was given a note of protest due to the incident at the border. It was noted that «Belarus regards that action as a planned provocation»