Syria faces total internet blackout

DAMASCUSS, SYRIA: Internet services across Syria were down since Friday morning and the west Asian nation remained completely offline, the country's state telephone and internet service said.

"We have a problem. We are now striving to tackle it," a spokeswoman for the internet service said without giving further details.

Pro-democracy protests have been breaking out in Syria each Friday, the country's official holiday, over the last two and a half months. Activists organise the rallies through Facebook and Twitter.

Syrian authorities have several times severed internet connections in most rebellious territories to hamper the protests, but this is the first time that internet services across the country have been down.

Over 1,000 people have been killed since the beginning of the unrest in the country, Syrian rights activists claim.