Syria was struck with a nationwide blackout on Thursday afternoon in the first week since the implementation of a ceasefire.

A local news station, citing Syria’s Electricity Company, reported, “Electricity has been cut across all provinces and teams are trying to determine the reason for this unexpected cut.”

Small-scale power outages have become routine in the war-torn country with the countless airstrikes and ground-based clashes. However, after the implementation of a ceasefire as recently as Saturday night, the country is baffled as to how the blackout could have occurred.

Due to the local blackouts, Syria has become accustomed to relying on generators to provide homes and businesses with electricity. Despite this, for unknown reasons, even the generators are not kicking in, leaving hundreds of thousands without basic power.

Just three days ago, electricity minister, Imad Khamis, spoke at a special hearing regarding the toll the war had taken on Syria’s power sector. Khamis told parliamentarians that the damage the war had caused to the country’s electricity network from 2011 until the end of 2015 was estimated to cost at least $3.75 billion.

“In statements carried by Syria’s state news agency SANA, Khamis said five out of the 13 main power stations in Syria had been ‘directly damaged’ in the war,” reported i24 News, a Tel Aviv-based news agency.

The nationwide blackout is reminiscent of the ninth plague which befell Egypt prior to the Israelites’ freedom from slavery: that of darkness. God’s curse upon the Egyptians brought with it a thick, suffocating darkness, which prevented them from seeing one another or from moving from their place for three full days.

Given the similarities in attitudes towards Israel on the part of Syria and Biblical Egypt, it may not be a stretch to suspect Divine Intervention.