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Hackers said to be supported by the regime of Syria President Bashar al-Assad have apparently targeted dozens of western media websites in a coordinated online attack.

Web users reported seeing messages reading: "You have been hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army" on Thursday.

The group's logo set against a black background then appeared on screens.

Social media users reported being affected on UK sites including the Daily Telegraph, the Independent and the Evening Standard.

The hackers breached websites via a third party tool installed on sites but no personal data was compromised.

Foreign sites including Forbes, Al-Jazeera and the Chicago Tribune were also reportedly affected.

The group, which is said to be supervised by the Assad regime in Syria, has previously targeted web giants such as Microsoft and Facebook as well as the Twitter accounts of Unicef, the Israeli Army news agency and Reuters.

They have also targeted the news websites of the Sun and the Sunday Times.

They are known to use spamming, defacement, and malware to target political opponents, news organisations, and human rights groups.

Recent hacks claimed by the group include the Twitter accounts of Unicef, the Israeli Army news agency Reuters and the news websites of the Sun and the Sunday Times.