Syrian Subsea Cable Link Downed in Latest Act of Telecom Sabotage | Kentik BlogSlide 1 of 1

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Table of contentsWhat happened?The threat of telecom sabotageOngoing challenges for Syrian internet

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Table of contents<br>What happened?The threat of telecom sabotageOngoing challenges for Syrian internet

SubscribeSummary<br>Syria’s internet recently faced a significant disruption after the Aletar fiber cable was sabotaged on land, a move consistent with a broader pattern of infrastructure attacks targeting the country since the 2024 change in government. This post examines the impact of the cut, the ongoing threat of telecom sabotage, and the evolving state of Syrian internet infrastructure under the country’s new leadership.

Last week, Syria’s internet suffered its latest blow when it lost connectivity from one of its submarine cables due to an act that Syrian Telecom claimed was part of a ”systematic sabotage campaign” targeting the country’s infrastructure since the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.

In this post, we examine the impact of the cut and its rapid restoration, the prospect of ongoing telecom sabotage in Syria, and the state of the Syrian internet under President Ahmed al-Sharaa, the country’s new leader and former head of HTS, al-Qaeda’s onetime Syrian affiliate.

What happened?

At 18:51 UTC on June 14, a reported fiber cut took out Syria’s access to the Aletar submarine cable. Built in 1997, the Aletar is Syria’s oldest submarine cable. Running to Alexandria, it gives Syria access to the international transit capacity concentrated in Egypt.

While initially reported as a submarine cable cut, pictures posted on Syrian Telecom’s Facebook page made clear that someone had sawed through a fiber optic cable in a manhole, likely connecting this...