Airstrikes attributed to Israel near Homs in central Syria overnight Tuesday resulted in two civilian deaths and at least six wounded, Syrian media reported.

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The SANA news agency claimed early Wednesday morning that two civilians had been killed in the strikes and that six Syrian soldiers and a civilian had been wounded.

Syrian state television said that the strikes were carried out by Israel and had targeted a few different sites in central Syria, causing material damage. Other Syrian reports said the strikes had targeted a shipment of weapons destined for Hezbollah as well as Syrian anti-aircraft systems.

"An Israeli air aggression targeted parts of the central region, and the air defenses are responding," state media claimed.

No comment was forthcoming from Israel.

A Syrian military official told SANA that at 1:27 a.m. Wednesday, a few points in central Syria had been attacked from the direction of northeast Beirut. Other Arab reports also said that the strikes had been carried out from eastern Lebanese air space and that targets included what was reported to be a "research institute" and a number of sites affiliated with pro-Iranian militias.

The Syrian official said that Syrian air defenses had intercepted most of the missiles. One Syrian anti-aircraft missile missed its target and crossed into Israeli airspace, detonating off the coast of Haifa, Israel's N12 news site reported Wednesday.

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A cyberattack on Sunday disrupted access to Iran's privately owned Mahan Air, state TV reported, marking the latest in a series of cyberattacks on Iranian infrastructure that has put the country on edge.

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Mahan Air's website displayed an error message saying the site couldn't be reached. The carrier said in a statement that it had "thwarted" the attack and that its flight schedule had not been affected, adding it has faced similar breaches in the past.

"Our cybersecurity team worked with total efficiency to thwart the attack. For us, this was a routine incident, and this was not the first time attacks like this have taken place," a Mahan Air spokesperson told the country's Fars News Agency.

Many customers of Mahan Air across Iran received strange text messages on Sunday. A group calling itself Hoosyarane-Vatan, or Observants of Fatherland, claimed in the mass texts to have carried out the attack, citing the airline's cooperation with Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. The self-described hacking group did not provide any evidence.

Mahan Air flies from Tehran to a few dozen destinations in Asia, Europe and the Middle East. The United States Treasury Department, which polices compliance with sanctions, blacklisted the airline in 2011 for allegedly "providing financial, material and technological support" to the Revolutionary Guard's elite Quds Force, responsible for the Islamic Republic's campaigns abroad. The Treasury has accused Mahan Air of ferrying weapons, goods and personnel to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Major cyberattacks have struck various Iranian systems in recent months, with one in October crippling gas stations across the country, leaving angry motorists stranded in long lines unable to use their government-issued cards to buy subsidized fuel. Without naming a specific country, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi blamed the hack on anti-Iranian forces seeking to sow disorder and disruption.

Another attack targeted the railroad system, causing mass confusion with scores of trains delayed and canceled across Iran.

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A drone attack on a US military base in southern Syria in October was an Iranian retaliatory action for airstrikes against Iranian targets attributed to Israel, the New York Times reported Friday, quoting eight US and Israeli officials.

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On Oct. 20, five drones were released toward the American base in a strike the Americans called "intentional and coordinated."

Only two of the drones detonated upon landing. A high-ranking American military official said they had been filled with bullets, signifying a clear "intention to kill."

The American soldiers stationed at the base had been evacuated a few hours earlier following a tip-off from Israeli intelligence.

The officials quoted by the Times said that the drone attack marked the first time that Iran had carried out military attack against the US in response to strikes attributed to Israel, an escalation in the "shadow war" between Israel and Iran.

Despite the report, the Pentagon declined to publicly blame the attack on Iran, in part to avoid interfering with the Iranian nuclear talks, which are slated to resume at the end of November. Iran has not claimed responsibility for the attack.

Last week, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said at a press conference last week that there had been several "incidents" in which Iran had been the subject of accusations "without any proof."

Khatibzadeh said that countries that operated military bases in Syria without having been invited to do so by the Syrian government were the "real root" of instability in Syria and the region.

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Syrian media reported a major explosion and a fire on civilian ship docked at Latakia Port on the country's northwest coast on Tuesday afternoon.

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Syrian state TV reported that firefighters had the fire under control and that two people had suffered minor injuries in the incident. The SANA news agency quoted port director Amjad Suleiman saying that the ship had docked for maintenance work and was empty at the time of the blast.

Alarabiya TV journalist Ziad Halabi reported that the ship was an Iranian oil tanker that had docked in Latakia a few days ago.

The Syrian Human Rights Observatory reported that the explosion had caused a number of wounded and extensive damage to the vessel.

Thus far, there were no claims that the explosion or the fire had been the result of sabotage.

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The circumstances of what the British navy reported as a "potential hijack" of a ship off the coast of the United Arab Emirates in the Gulf of Oman on Tuesday remain unclear as of Wednesday morning.

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The British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations initially warned ships Tuesday that "an incident is currently underway" off the coast of Fujairah. Hours later, the authorities said the incident was a "potential hijack," but provided no further details.

Shipping authority Lloyd's List and maritime intelligence firm Dryad Global both identified the vessel involved in the incident as Panama-flagged asphalt tanker Asphalt Princess. The vessel's owner, listed as Emirati free zone-based Glory International, could not immediately be reached for comment late Tuesday.

The Times of London also reported that the Asphalt Princess had been hijacked, citing British sources as saying they were "working on the assumption Iranian military or proxies boarded the vessel."

Satellite-tracking data for the vessel showed it slowly heading toward Iranian waters off the port of Jask early Wednesday, according to MarineTraffic.com.

The US military's 5th Fleet and the British Defense Ministry also did not immediately return calls for comment. The Emirati government did not immediately acknowledge the incident.

Earlier, at least four oil tankers announced around the same time via their Automatic Identification System trackers that they were "not under command," according to MarineTraffic.com. That typically means a vessel has lost power and can no longer steer.

"At the same time, if they are in the same vicinity and in the same place, then very rarely that happens," said Ranjith Raja, an oil and shipping expert with data firm Refintiv. "Not all the vessels would lose their engines or their capability to steer at the same time."

Sources in Abu Dhabi reported Tuesday that Israel's defense establishment had updated them on the incident and said that Israel was not involved. Sources in the United Arab Emirates reported that one of the ships affected was the Singapore-flagged Golden Brilliant, which had run into a mine or some kind of underwater weapon and sustained serious damage.

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One of the vessels later began moving.

Nour News, affiliated with Iran's top national security body, quoted a senior navy official as saying "the movement of commercial vessels is quite normal and no official naval sources or countries in the Persian Gulf have reported any incidents."

Iran's foreign ministry said the reports of maritime incidents were "suspicious" and warned against any effort to create a "false atmosphere" against Tehran.

The Al-Arabiyye network reported that Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps had denied any involvement in the incident.

An Oman Royal Air Force Airbus C-295MPA, a maritime patrol aircraft, flew in circles for hours over the waters, according to data from FlightRadar24.com.

Apparently responding to the incident, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh called the recent maritime attacks in the Persian Gulf "completely suspicious." He denied that Iran was involved.

"Iran's naval forces are ready for help and rescue in the region," Khatibzadeh said.

Meanwhile on Tuesday, the NATO military alliance and the European Union joined a growing chorus of international condemnation of Iran's alleged attack on the Mercer Street merchant ship in the Arabian Sea last week and urged Tehran to respect its international obligations.

Last Thursday's drone strike killed a British national and a Romanian. It was the first known fatal strike on commercial shipping in the region after years of tensions over the tattered nuclear deal between western nations and Iran.

NATO spokesman Dylan White said the 30-nation alliance joins members the US, UK and Romania "in strongly condemning the recent fatal attack on the MV Mercer Street off the coast of Oman, and express our condolences to Romania and the United Kingdom for the losses they have suffered."

"Freedom of navigation is vital for all NATO allies, and must be upheld in accordance with international law," White said. "Allies remain concerned by Iran's destabilizing actions in the region, and call on Tehran to respect its international obligations."

The EU, meanwhile, deplored the attack, expressed its condolences for the victims and called for a thorough independent investigation.

"Such acts contrary to the security and freedom of navigation in the region are unacceptable," European Commission spokeswoman Nabila Massrali said. "All parties concerned must avoid all actions that could undermine peace and regional stability."

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Outgoing Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said in his last speech to his cabinet ministers on Monday night that Israel had indeed taken Iran's nuclear archive, as former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed in 2018.

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"The Israelis took out secrets out of the country and gave them to [then-US President] Trump. And President Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal," Rouhani said.

At a widely-reported press conference in 2018, Netanyahu reported that the Mossad had completed a daring and complex operation in Tehran that had led to its seizure of 100,000 documents on the Iranian nuclear program.

Netanyahu said at the time that the documents in the archive pertained to Iran's activities prior to the 2015 JCPOA nuclear accord and shed light on what he called Iran's attempts to dupe the international community about its nuclear aspirations.

On Tuesday, Iranian President-elect Ebrahim Raisi is expected to receive the official blessing of Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in the presence of a number of local dignitaries, as well as several foreign diplomats. On Thursday, Raisi is slated to be sworn in as president. Several dozen foreign envoys are expected to be present at the ceremony.

Once Raisi, considered one of Iran's more extremist public figures, becomes president, it is likely that it will be more difficult for Iran and western nations to hammer out a new nuclear accord. Ultimately, the decision about whether or not to rejoin a nuclear deal will fall to Khamenei, who has recently accused the US of being untrustworthy. Khamenei has also said that there is no point in Iran rejoining an agreement similar to the original 2015 JCPOA.

Meanwhile, as a number of western powers are accusing Iran of responsibility for a drone attack on an Israeli-operated ship in the Arabia Sea last week, Iranian Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri said Monday that Israel "sent people to our oil tankers to blow them up. 12 of our tankers have been bombed or damaged."

The New York Times recently ran a similar report that made similar allegations.

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