Syria says sabotage damaged underwater oil pipelines

Syria's oil ministry says five underwater pipelines have been damaged and put out of order as a result of a sabotage attack off the coastal town of Banias. The ministry said Sunday the damage was discovered after divers checked to see what was behind oil leakage, adding that the ministry's experts are working to fix the damage.

The ministry gave no further details about the attack saying that the damage will be fixed within hours. It said Oil Minister Ali Ghanem visited the area and met with engineers over the "terrorist attack."

Syria has been mostly relying on oil shipments through tankers to its Mediterranean coast. Syria suffered recently from fuel shortages that were largely the result of Western sanctions on Syria and renewed US sanctions on its ally Iran.