Syria crisis: Internet, telephone services resume in Damascus

After a two day internet and telephone blackout, areas around Damascus made a communication comeback, whereas violence continues on Saturday.

Zeenews Bureau Beirut: After a two day internet blackout areas around Damascus made a comeback online, whereas violence continues on Saturday. Till yesterday Syrian rebels battled regime troops south of Damascus and Internet and most telephone lines were cut, but the government reopened the road to the capital`s airport in a sign the fighting could be calming, activists said. The general manager of the Syrian Civil Aviation Agency, Ghaidaa Abdul-Latif, said the airport was operating "as usual”. Earlier, international flights were canceled because of the violence.

President Bashar Assad`s regime and opposition activists blamed each other for the communications blackout, which was the first to hit the whole country since Syria`s 20-month-old uprising began. Though both airport and internet are officially declared open in the city today, yet there are uncertainties of their working conditions. Earlier activists had said that Assad`s regime pulled the plug on the Internet yesterday perhaps in preparation for a major offensive. Cellphone service also went out in Damascus and parts of central Syria, they said. The government blamed rebel fighters for the outages.