The hackers first claimed to subvert Facebook.com in a tweet published at approximately 6:30 EST on Wednesday.

A cursory search of the WHOIS domain registrar indicated that the email address tied to Facebook had indeed been changed to a Syrian gmail account.

The SEA claimed it was able to change Facebook's servers but the process had to be abandoned because it was “taking too much time.” The alleged hack did not impact Facebook's operations.

Half an hour after the SEA tweet, the domain name returned to domain@fb.com, indicating that Facebook and MarkMonitor - a domain management firm - had rectified the error and prevented any serious impact.

In August 2013, amid US consideration that it would join the ongoing Syrian conflict and attempt to remove the Syrian president from power, the SEA hacked The Huffington Post, The New York Times, and other news entities the hackers perceived to be hostile towards the Syrian government.

They also hacked accounts of Skype, Agence France-Presse (AFP) and CNN.

NTJ/NJF