It’s tough to keep up with all of the news flowing out of Syria.

From Israeli air strikes to coastal massacres to chemical weapons to US and Russian Cooperation there is a huge amount of information streaming out of the region at all time.

Well, maybe not all times, that stream was abruptly cut off Tuesday when Syria’s Internet went down for nearly 20 hours.

Maybe no one should be surprised that the Web could shut down in a nation wracked by war. But as the conflict in Syria has become more dire, with a death toll near 90,000, the web has gained prominence as a way to distribute information, within the country and internationally.

How is the Internet being used in modern day conflicts?

So far both sides in the Syrian civil war have made pretty good use of the web. Rebel forces have hacked multiple government websites to post interactive maps and descriptions of atrocities committed by the government.

But pro-Assad forces would not be out done, and formed the Syrian Electronic Army, a force dedicated to rooting out dissent by tracking online communication. Even journalists, because they are barred from writing reports, use online video to update the world on what is going on.

 Internet is becoming more and more important to everyone, especially those wanting to exercise free speech.

his short outage caused a decent amount of strife, if this were to happen again for a longer period of time who knows what could happen?