I remember at the time when all Western and oil and gas Arab media blaming the Syrian regime for that: NSA, not Assad, took Syria off the Internet

""Snowden said that back in 2013 when he was still working with the US government, he was told by a US intelligence officer that NSA hackers—not the Assad regime—had been responsible for Syria's sudden disconnect from the Internet in November and December of 2012."" (thanks Amir)