Cause of Syria internet outage 'unclear'

The internet and mobile phone systems have been cut off in large parts of Syria, but a US security firm monitoring the situation has said it is impossible to give a definite cause.

Renesys, a company which tracks internet connectivity worldwide, said the country's connection protocols were unreachable, meaning that "nobody can connect to them".

Speaking to the BBC, chief technology officer Jim Cowie said it was possible that damage to infrastructure was to blame - though it may also have been a deliberate move by the Syrian authorities.