A major electricity blackout plunged five Syrian provinces in darkness, as a result of a rebels ' attack against a key power line in central Syria on Monday night, the official TV said.

The electricity went out in the coastal provinces of Tartous and Latakia, the central province of Hama and the northern Aleppo and Idlib provinces, according to report.

Work is underway to secure alternative electricity source until the reparation of the attacked line, the report quoted the electricity ministry as saying.

The Syrians have grown used to frequent power outages amid an escalation of military showdown that has badly destroyed the country's infrastructures.

Syrian Electricity Minister Imad Khamis said that the capacity of the power generating stations in the unrest-torn country had dropped to 50 percent due to the rebels' attacks on "the fuel, gas pipelines, and voltage towers which negatively affected the Syrian citizen's life, public and private companies."

Last September, Syrian official media reported that financial losses of the energy sector alone amounted to two trillion Syrian pounds (140 billion US dollars) since the outbreak of the country's conflict in March 2011.