TORONTO - A report by a University of Toronto think tank says a number of Syrian government websites are being hosted by servers based in Canada.
The report by the Citizen Lab and Canada Centre for Global Security Studies comes as Canada warns its citizens in Syria to leave the increasingly volatile country.
The report says 17 Syrian websites -- including the Ministries of Culture, Transport and Social Affairs and Labour -- are hosted on Canadian-based web servers through intermediary companies.
One of those companies, called Platinum Incorporated, says it has servers in Vancouver. The report says the company hosts their corporate website through iWeb, a Montreal-based hosting company.
It also says Syrian TV station Addounia TV uses Canada-based web servers to host its website.
Canada has condemned a violent crackdown on democracy-seeking protesters in Syria and has imposed a series of stiff sanctions on the regime, including travel restrictions and a freeze on assets.
The report says there are legal questions surrounding the web hosting services to the Syrian sites because the services provided to them may fall within the scope of Canadian sanctions.
It also notes, however, that considering the removal of any organization's website from web hosting services "must be treated as a potential infringement on freedom of speech and access to information."
The United Nations estimates more than 3,500 people have been killed in Syria since last March, when President Bashar Assad began clamping down on Syrians who spoke out against his regime.
The Middle Eastern nation has since been kicked out of the Arab League, which is calling for "urgent measures" to protect Syrian civilians.
The UofT report also says a website for the official media arm of Lebanese political party Hezbollah, is hosted on Canadian and U.S. based servers and uses Canadian servers to stream its TV broadcast globally.
Canada currently classifies Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.
