A number of North American web hosts are cutting ties with Syrian websites after web access was shut down in the country on Thursday,

a New York Times report recently noted.

Security firm Renesys earlier detailed the blackout via its blog, noting that the totality of Syria’s 84 IP blocks had been knocked offline,

resulting in minimal web access.

North American-based hosting companies, according to the newspaper, host servers administering the operation of several Syrian

government-backed web presences.

One such is the website for the country’s state news agency (SANA), which most recently was hosted through SoftLayer (SoftLayer, for

its part, has insisted upon its compliance with U.S. regulations.)

Despite the web blackout, the websites remained accessible in areas outside the country due to hosting overseas.

So why are web hosts backing away? At issue is a provision requiring U.S. hosters to receive authorization from the U.S. Treasury

Department before they can do business with the middle-eastern country.

It’s often common, however, that hosting firms don’t always know exactly which data they’re providing for. SoftLayer wasn’t the only

web host who had to deal with issue. Another Syrian website hosted by HostDime.com also pertained to the matter. HostDime is currently working to address the concern.