Syria was plunged Wednesday into a nationwide
blackout, the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency
reported.
A "terrorist attack on the gas feeder line for a power
plant" in southern Damascus led to "power outages
in all provinces" and efforts were under way to
restore it, Electricity Minister Imad Khamis told
SANA.
Syrian activists were posting video to social media
accounts showing what they described as a gas line
fire near the Damascus airport. The video showed
unidentified buildings in the dark, with a fire burning
on higher ground behind the structures.
And the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
reported that a large explosion rocked Damascus late
Wednesday. The blast targeted a government
checkpoint and injured soldiers there, the London-
based activist group said.
In London on Wednesday, at a meeting of the
"Friends of Syria," the head of Syria's main
opposition umbrella group laid out a list of conditions
for participation in a conference to be held by the end
of the year in Geneva with the goal of ending the
bloodshed that has wracked the country since March
2011.
Ahmad al-Jabra, leader of the Syrian National
Coalition, said they include:
-- releasing prisoners;
-- lifting the siege from affected areas and allowing
the entry of aid;
-- stopping the use in civilian areas of ballistic
missiles, cluster bombs and fighters jets;
-- the departure from Syria of Hezbollah and Iranian
Revolutionary Guard forces;-- the renewal without conditions of ex-pats' Syrian
passports;
-- a commitment from President Bashar al-Assad to
implement the provisions reached in the first such
conference, dubbed Geneva 1;
-- a declaration by al-Assad to accept a transition of
power to an interim government body with executive
powers, written in the constitution;
-- an agreement by all sides that the transitional
government is the sole source of legitimate law in
the country;
-- an agreement that the U.N. Security Council will
guarantee any agreement under Chapter VII of its
charter, which would allow military action;
-- a timetable for the transition;
-- stipulation that those responsible for war crimes
against humanity be removed from power and held
accountable.
British Foreign Minister William Hague told reporters
Wednesday that al-Assad should play no political role
in Syria.
The opposition Local Coordination Committees of
Syria said at least 33 people were killed Wednesday
across Syria.
State-run SANA said at least 10 people were killed in
"terrorist" attacks in Damascus and Aleppo.
Comments