03/12/2012 12:29
Opposition accuses Syria of 'mental war' after Internet blackout
Syria's two-day Internet blackout was "a mental war" inflicted by the government, an opposition activist said Sunday as service to the country was largely restored.
"So far, all areas that had Internet service before Thursday are connected," said Alexia Jade, a spokeswoman for the opposition Damascus Media Office.
CNN reported while Internet access is back, theories and concerns abound on what caused the outage.
It also sparked fears that the government is stepping up efforts to quash the uprising by crushing the flow of information and isolating the country from the outside world.
"It appears to be back to normal, but it is impossible to tell if filtering or monitoring technology was installed during the outage," said Matthew Prince, CEO of CloudFlare, an Internet security company.
Global monitors said the country lost contact with the Web on Thursday, plunging into an Internet black hole.
Syria's information minister said "terrorists" cut the cable, knocking out Web communication with other countries. The government uses the word "terrorists" to refer to rebels in the ongoing civil war, and blamed them for a car bombing near a mosque in Homs that killed 15 people and wounded 24 others Sunday.