REPORTS: Internet Shut Off In Syria, Google Services Go Unavailable

The internet in Syria has apparently been shut off as of 3 p.m. EST, according to Umbrella, an internet security company that tracks data.

Google Transparency Reports also verify the web outage.

This graph from internet monitoring group Akamai shows the precipitous drop in internet service:

This isn't the first time Syria lost internet service either. The internet went down last year for two days, and experts were quick to point fingers at the Assad government, according to the Associated Press.

Some say the internet kill switch is an attempt to abridge rebel communications; there were even reports of spotty cell phone usage during the blackout last year.

So far there are only a few sporadic reports of lost phone service floating around twitter, but nothing confirmed.

Libyan dictator Muamar Qaddafi used a kill switch in 2011, and Egypt made an attempt at killing the internet during the Arab Spring as well (and web-famously, internet collective Anonymous helped them get the internet back up).

Assad has been in a deadlocked, bloody civil war with Syrian rebels for the last two years. Estimates report that approximately 70,000 lives have been lost in that time.