Most of Syria is in darkness after a rebel artillery attack destroyed a gas pipeline feeding a major power plant.

Residents of Damascus say the entire city is without power while officials with the Bashir al-Assad administration have said the power outage is nationwide.

“A terrorist attack on a gas pipeline that feeds a power station in the south has led to a power outage in the provinces, and work to repair it is in progress,” Electricity Minister Imad Khamis told Syria’s state TV.

Khamis said it could take two days to restore the power.

The two sides in the civil war have been invited to a conference in Geneva to try and end the fighting but the government’s refusal to have President Bashir al-Assad step down is seen as an ongoing block to peace.