Per Ars Technica:
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/08/snowden-the-nsa-not-assad-took-syria-off-the-internet-in-2012/
According to uber squealer Snowden, the reason Syria fell off the internet at the start of their civil war was because the NSA bricked their routers when trying to plant spyware.
"Just blame Israel" was the response when they found what they had done.
Ouch.