An explosion near a gas pipeline forced three Syrian power plants offline on Sept. 30, and hours later, unidentified gunmen killed seven people near Homs, with both incidents occurring just days after two other apparent sabotage attacks targeted Syria's gas network, Al Jazeera reported on Sept. 30. Meanwhile, Reuters reported that the Syrian government held secret talks with its former rivals, Lebanon's Hezbollah, in Turkey in September under Turkish mediation, with Syria asking Hezbollah to dismantle its sleeper cells in the country and to support Syria's efforts to combat smuggling.