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The B-1B Lancer bomber flew Saturday over the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20% of all oil traded passes.

It also flew over the Red Sea, its narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait and Egypt's Suez Canal.

The Strait of Hormuz has been the scene of attacks on shipping which have been blamed on Iran over recent years, while the Red Sea has seen similar assaults amid an ongoing shadow war between Tehran and Israel.

The Islamic Republic has denied involvement in the attacks, though it has promised to take revenge on Israel for a series of attacks targeting its nuclear program.

Fighter jets from Bahrain, Egypt, Israel and Saudi Arabia flew alongside the bomber.

The flyover is the first in a pattern of such flights by nuclear-capable B-52 bombers since the Trump administration, as a show of force to Iran.

Biden sending a B1-B bomber into the region allows him to send "a clear message of reassurance" to regional allies, the US Air Force's Central Command said in a Twitter post.

Report by AP

Two soldiers were injured and some material losses occurred, the statement added, according to military sources quoted by state media. State TV had earlier reported that explosions were heard in the countryside outside Damascus.

This is the second air attack in five days that Syria has blamed on Israel.

Asked about the attack, an Israeli military spokesperson said: "We do not comment on reports in the foreign media."

Israel, alarmed by Iran's growing regional influence and military presence in Syria, has said previously that it has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria to slow down Iranian entrenchment.

The Syrian Observatory monitoring group based in London reported on Friday that Iran's IRGC has started training militias in the use of military drones.

Iran has been deeply involved in the Syrian civil war since 2011 to support Bashar al-Assad. It has deployed tens of thousands of its own forces and Iraqi, Lebanese, Afghan and Pakistani militias.

Report by Reuters

A hackers' group called Black Shadow announced on social media that they have seized a large trove of data from the company and its clients and asked them to pay a ransom if they do not want publication of the information.

The Jerusalem Post confirmedthat websites serviced by Cyberserve internet company are down as it refused an initial demand to pay ransom. The newspaper said that the group had attacked other Israeli companies in the past.

Around noon time on Tuesday, more than 4,000 gas stations in Iran experienced disruption of a payment system for cheaper, rationed gasoline that every Iranian has uses to receive a limited amount of cheap fuel every month. The disruption has been mostly resolved after three days, but Iran has not officially accused Israel, which in the past has targeted Iran with cyberattacks.

The latest attack by the Iranian group could be an attempt to show that Iran can respond to cyberattacks as the large-scale disruption at gas stations has hurt its image domestically.

Businessmen Jihad al-Arab and Dany Khoury, close to former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri and Christian politician Gebran Bassil respectively, were sanctioned for alleged corruption related to state contracts.

Lawmaker Jamil Sayyed was sanctioned for allegedly seeking to "skirt domestic banking policies and regulations" and transfer $120 million abroad, "presumably to enrich himself and his associates," a Treasury statement said. This will have an impact on Hezbollah’s reputation.

The Treasury alleged that Khoury and Arab both received state contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars, thanks to political connections.

The allegations come amid an unprecedented economic crisis in Lebanon blamed on years of bad policies and corruption by the ruling elite.

Thursday's sanctions mark the first time a close associate of Hariri, a pro-western figure, is sanctioned by the US, which previously focused on Iran-backed Hezbollah and its allies.

"The Americans are sending a message to the entire political class, not just those backed by Iran," Maha Yahya, director of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, told Reuters.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken characterized the new sanctions on Twitter as "an important step in promoting accountability in Lebanon."

"Lebanese officials must end corruption and take urgent action to address the crises the Lebanese people face," he said.

Officials said Monday the US believes that Iran resourced and encouraged the attack, but that the drones were not launched from Iran. They were Iranian drones, and Iran appears to have facilitated their use, officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss details that have not been made public.

Officials said they believe the attacks involved as many as five drones laden with explosive charges, and that they hit both the U.S. side of al-Tanf garrison and the side where Syrian opposition forces stay.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby declined to provide details when asked about the report during a news conference Monday. He called it a “complex, coordinated and deliberate attack” and said the US has seen similar ones before from Shia militia groups that are backed by Iran. But he would not go into specifics and said he had no update on the munitions used in the attack.

Kirby also declined to say if troops were warned ahead of time or whether the US intends to make a military response.

“The protection and security of our troops overseas remains a paramount concern for the secretary,” Kirby said, referring to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, “and that if there is to be a response, it will be at a time and a place and a manner of our choosing, and we certainly won't get ahead of those kinds of decisions.