Syria: Internet shut down by government
Syria's Internet shutdown is unprecedented in the conflict, though Damascus has partially cut off access several times over the past 20 months.
An Ottoman-era building damaged by an air strike at a besieged area in Homs, Syria, yesterday. The Syrian government cut off Internet access across the country today.
Yazan Homsy/Reuters
Beirut, Lebanon
Two US-based Internet-monitoring companies say Syria has shut off the Internet nationwide.
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Activists in Syria reached Thursday by satellite telephone confirmed the unprecedented blackout, which comes amid intense fighting in the capital, Damascus.
Renesys, a US-based network security firm that studies Internet disruptions, says Syria effectively disappeared from the Internet at 12:26 p.m. local time.
Akamai Technologies Inc., another US-based company that distributes content on the Internet, also confirmed a complete outage for Syria.
Syria has partially cut Internet connections during the 20-month uprising against President Bashar Assad but a nationwide shutdown is unprecedented.
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