Internet back on in Damascus, Homs - residents

Members of the Free Syrian Army, under the name of Farouq Brigades, use laptop computers in Homs August 18, 2012. Picture taken August 18, 2012.

BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Internet was working in Syria's capital of Damascus and the central city of Homs on Saturday, residents said, after a two-day blackout that experts said was highly likely to have been caused by authorities.

President Bashar al-Assad's government has been accused before of cutting Internet and telephone connections to block opposition activist and rebel communications during the 20-month-old revolt.

Authorities had attributed the latest outage to a "terrorist" attack or a technical fault.

"Most people have Internet in the capital now," a resident, who asked to remain anonymous, told Reuters over Skype, adding that he was speaking to his friends in Syria using social media.

It was not immediately clear if the Internet was operating countrywide but two activists from the central city of Homs said the service had resumed.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition-linked violence monitoring organisation, said connectivity had returned to most provinces.

(Reporting by Oliver Holmes; Editing by Louise Ireland)