Beginning yesterday morning, all internet communication with Syria was cut off. According to internet monitoring firm Renesys:
Starting at 10:26 UTC on Thursday, 29 November (12:26pm in Damascus), Syria’s international Internet connectivity shut down. In the global routing table, all 84 of Syria’s IP address blocks have become unreachable, effectively removing the country from the Internet.
Multiple sources are also reporting that mobile phone service has been disrupted as well.
In an effort to work around this blackout, Google has set up a way for Syrians with access to landlines to speak into the phone, which will then be set out via twitter:
More below the fold.
In addition to the communications blackout, most flights in, out, and over Syria have been canceled. This is as of about 7:35am Eastern Time in the United States:
Flights to Syrian Airport Canceled Amid Reports of Rebel Clashes
There are reports that Syrian jets bombed rebel targets near the airport, which led to the closure.
There is also a video of the aftermath of a bombing in Aleppo, Syria. Footage is on Live Leak : WARNING – this is graphic and disturbing.
To be honest, I have not been following the news in Syria much lately. I am hoping that someone with more knowledge can chime in on the situation. I just saw that there wasn’t a story on this yet, and wanted to aggregate some information to raise awareness. A country going into a communications vacuum in the midst of rampant military violence is a recipe for disaster.