"Saboteurs" hit early Friday an oil pipeline with an explosive device in the Talkalakh town near the borders with Lebanon, causing a leak of oil and a hole of 15 meters diameter, the state TV reported.

Saboteurs targeted an oil pipeline with an explosive device in the Talkalakh town, which is also near the city of Homs and close to the Tal Hosh Dam, said the TV, adding that the explosion aims to cause a leak of oil in the waters of the dam to destroy nearby agricultural crops.

The governor of Homs, Ghassan Abdul-Aal, was quoted by the official SANA news agency as saying that this is a first-degree sabotaging act, adding that the saboteurs have chosen to act in the early morning as there are no people in the street.

He said the saboteurs picked this place near the Tal Hosh Dam that feeds a large area of agricultural lands, adding that procedures are currently underway to prevent the spread of oil in the dam's water.

Talkalakh, a little Syrian hill town near the borders with Lebanon, has been a focal point of anti-government protests where many people fled the violence there into neighboring Lebanon.

Syria has blamed the four-month unrest on armed gangs and religious extremists looking to stir up sectarian strife in the country, and stressed that it would track those who have intimidated people and damaged public and private properties.