Syria's internet and phone services resumed on Wednesday afternoon following a two-day blackout that left much of the war-torn country cut off.
State media reportedly blamed the blackout - the second since the uprising began in 2011 - on a technical fault.
According to Al Jazeera, Syrian state news agency SANA quoted the director general of the General Establishment for Communications, Bakr Bakr, as saying internet services and communication between provinces had gone down because of a malfunction in an optic cable.
However, British-based watchdog, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the blackout appeared to be a deliberate cut to help regime forces carrying out military operations.
The internet has been a crucial tool for opposition activists who have used it to post videos and information throughout the two-year conflict.
Data from Google, Akamai Technologies and Renesys, a US firm that tracks global web traffic, showed that internet traffic started flowing to and from Syria shortly after 1400 GMT on Wednesday, after stopping just before 1900 GMT on Tuesday.
