Somehow, Syrians lost their Internet connections on Tuesday night, and there is widespread speculation how it happened.

Some argue it was the authoritarian government, which didn’t want its opponents in the bloody civil war to use the Internet for communications. That theory had the strongest support among many Middle East analysts.

Also, an Internet blackout is seen as a way to silence the regime’s opponents. "We're deeply concerned that this blackout is a deliberate attempt to silence Syria's online communications and further draw a curtain over grave events currently unfolding on the ground in Syria," the Electronic Frontier Foundation said in a recent statement.

"While heavily censored, monitored and compromised, the internet has served as an important window connecting the world at large to Syria, and one way that international observers could connect with individuals on the ground in that country,” the foundation added in a statement reported by the BBC.

Others, however, blame opponents of the current regime of embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for the blackout of Internet services. There is skepticism about their goals in the conflict.

It is known that social media is important to their cause and tactics. Opponents to the regime often use social media sites to report on violence by government forces, CNN reported.

Or, the disconnection may have come if technology was damaged during the fighting. Another theory is that some foreign enemy of Syria could have damaged the Internet technology.

Meanwhile, a Syrian state-run news agency blamed the outage on a "fault in optical fiber cables.” The Syrian Arab News Agency said the fault will be fixed "as soon as possible.”

The Ripe NCC and Akamai reported Internet service stopped in Syria on Tuesday. Also, Google (News - Alert) reported none of its services were available in Syria. Landline and mobile phone services were not available in Syria either, according to The Inquirer. Other reports said phone service was available to Syrians.

"Effectively, the shutdown disconnects Syria from internet communication with the rest of the world,” Umbrella Security Labs CTO Dan Hubbard said in a recent statement. “It's unclear whether internet communication within Syria is still available. Although we can't yet comment on what caused this outage, past incidents were linked to both government ordered shutdowns and damage to the infrastructure, which included fiber cuts and power outages."

Umbrella Security Labs last reported a substantial Internet blackout in Syria last November when it was out for three days.

Back then, U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford (News - Alert) told CNN, "The Syrian government has been monitoring (the Internet) for years. They have been using the Internet with Iranian assistance to track opposition activists, arrest and kill them."

In recent weeks, a pro-Syrian government hacking group called the Syrian Electronic Army has hacked into the social media accounts of U.S.-based news organizations, TMCnet reported. One time, their hacking led to a temporary drop in stock prices.