The country’s Ministry of Communication told state media site SANA that fibre links between the cities of Damascus and Homs were cut by pro-Assad remnants in a bid to “destabilise the security and stability” of the country.
Network traffic data from NetBlocks showed the outage occurred on January 24, affecting services in the capital and some rural users, though services were quickly restored.
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⚠️ Confirmed: Metrics show a multi-hour national disruption to internet connectivity in #Syria; the Ministry of Communications has identified "sabotage by remnants of the Assad regime" and the cutting of fiber links as the cause of the outage, which has since been resolved pic.twitter.com/7YPurF52kH
— NetBlocks (@netblocks) January 24, 2025
“We call on citizens to cooperate with the relevant authorities in reporting any acts of sabotage immediately to protect the infrastructure,” state officials said. “We are working with the competent authorities to uncover the identity of the saboteurs and hand them over to the judiciary to receive their just punishment.”
The Assad regime was toppled following a surprise offensive in late December, bringing to an end a decade of bloody civil war.
Internet connectivity went down in the final days of the war as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) swept across the country.
The new Syrian government has moved to improve connectivity across the country, removing internet speed limits and removing restrictions on thousands of websites put in place by the Assad regime.
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