Internet and phone services restored in Damascus
Source: Agencies |
December 2, 2012, Sunday
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SYRIAN authorities yesterday restored Internet and telephone services in Damascus following a two-day, nationwide communications blackout that came during some of the worst fighting to hit the capital since July.
The state-run SANA news agency said technical teams brought the services back online yesterday. It wasn't clear whether service to the rest of the country was being restored, but a Britain-based activist group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said it was receiving dispatches from Damascus, the central cities of Homs and Hama, the northern city of Aleppo and coastal areas.
The communications blackout began Thursday, raising fears of a burst of fighting outside the public eye. The government and rebels have blamed each other for cutting the lines.
Syrian troops are fighting a 20-month-old revolt against the President Bashar Assad's regime. Activists say 40,000 people have been killed in the crisis, which began with pro-democracy protests but has morphed into a civil war.
Yesterday, Syrian troops backed by helicopter gunships clashed with rebels as government forces pushed an offensive on villages and towns near the capital's international airport, activists said.
The fighting over the past few weeks in Damascus is the most serious the capital has seen since July, when rebels captured several neighborhoods before a quick government counteroffensive swept out the opposition fighters.
Activists said forces loyal to Assad were battling rebels in towns south of the capital, including Aqraba, Beit Saham and Yalda near the airport. The Observatory said many were feared killed in government shelling of Beit Saham.
Activists bypassed the communications blackout by using satellite telephones to connect to the Internet.
The state-run SANA news agency said technical teams brought the services back online yesterday. It wasn't clear whether service to the rest of the country was being restored, but a Britain-based activist group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said it was receiving dispatches from Damascus, the central cities of Homs and Hama, the northern city of Aleppo and coastal areas.
The communications blackout began Thursday, raising fears of a burst of fighting outside the public eye. The government and rebels have blamed each other for cutting the lines.
Syrian troops are fighting a 20-month-old revolt against the President Bashar Assad's regime. Activists say 40,000 people have been killed in the crisis, which began with pro-democracy protests but has morphed into a civil war.
Yesterday, Syrian troops backed by helicopter gunships clashed with rebels as government forces pushed an offensive on villages and towns near the capital's international airport, activists said.
The fighting over the past few weeks in Damascus is the most serious the capital has seen since July, when rebels captured several neighborhoods before a quick government counteroffensive swept out the opposition fighters.
Activists said forces loyal to Assad were battling rebels in towns south of the capital, including Aqraba, Beit Saham and Yalda near the airport. The Observatory said many were feared killed in government shelling of Beit Saham.
Activists bypassed the communications blackout by using satellite telephones to connect to the Internet.
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