00:15 Three attacks rocked the city of Sulaimaniya and its suburbs in the Kurdistan region of Iraq in the late hours of Saturday.
An Al Jazeera reporter on the ground identified one of the buildings that took two drone hits as a hotel.
The second drone that hit the hotel rammed into the building as the reporter spoke live to his newsroom in the Qatari capital.
Iranian drone and missile attacks against Erbil and Sulaimaniya have targeted what Tehran described as armed Iranian opposition groups headquartered in Iraqi Kurdistan.
A snapshot of an explosion of a drone attacking the city of Sulaimaniya and its suburbs in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. Photo courtesy of Al Jazeera.
23:15 The Israeli occupation army resumed heavy bombing on Dahiyeh in southern Beirut on Saturday evening after pounding villages and towns in the south of the country all day.
22:30 Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani told US President Donald Trump that escalation in the conflict in the Gulf could have serious repercussions for international security and peace.
During the call, Sheikh Tamim said Qatar will not hesitate to take all necessary measures to defend its sovereignty, security, and national interests in accordance with the UN Charter and international law.
The call between the Qatari emir and the US President came a few hours after Israel announced it had started airstrikes on Iranian oil depots, hitting 30 such installations in Tehran and elsewhere in the country, thus threatening to trigger more Iranian retaliation in the oil-rich region.
It also comes hours after President Trump announced that the US and Israel would begin more devastating airstrikes on Iran on Saturday, after the Iranian President said his government refused Trump's ultimatum demanding unconditional surrender, but apologized for Tehran's attacks on its neighbours after the start of the war.
Since the start of the US/Israeli war on Iran, Tehran retaliated by launching hundreds of ballistic missiles and drone attacks on US bases and US-linked economic targets in neighbouring Arab Gulf countries, including Qatar, killing at least 13 and wounding dozens.
21:30 Israeli war planes have launched a series of strikes against 30 oil depots in and around Tehran.
Shortly after, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard stated it had launched an attack on Haifa's oil refinery in retaliation.
A snapshot of explosions caused by US-Israeli strikes on Oil depots near Tehran, Iran. Photo courtesy Al Jazeera.
21:15 Hezbollah announced launching a rocket and drone attack on various Israeli military targets in northern Israel, the greater Tel Aviv area, and across the Galilee.
It also warned residents in settlements and towns near the border with Lebanon, including Kryat Shimona and Nahariya, to evacuate before launching drone and rocket attacks against them.
In a statement, the Lebanese group also said it has launched a drone attack on the Stella Maris naval base, located on the northwestern tip of Mount Carmel in the greater Haifa area.
20:45 A US strike hit a freshwater desalination plant on Iran’s Qeshm Island, disrupting water supplies to 30 villages, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Saturday.
“The US committed a blatant and desperate crime by attacking a freshwater desalination plant on Qeshm Island,” he wrote in a post on X. “Attacking Iran’s infrastructure is a dangerous move with grave consequences. The US set this precedent, not Iran.”
Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said the strike on the Qeshm plant was carried out with support from an airbase in a southern neighbouring country, without naming the country. “The crime will receive a proportionate response,” he added.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said on Saturday that it had retaliated for the US attack by striking a US base in Bahrain with precision-guided missiles using both solid- and liquid-fuel munitions.
20:30 The number of people killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon since Monday has risen to 294, with another 1,023 wounded, the Lebanese health ministry said.
Speaking at a press briefing, Social Affairs Minister Haneen Sayed said the total number of registrations on a ministry-affiliated website reached 454,000, including 112,525 people in government shelters.
Hanaa, 7, displaced by Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, writes in a notebook while wrapped in a blanket in Beirut, Lebanon. AP
Sayed urged remaining displaced residents to register with the authorities.
This week, Israel issued forced displacement orders for residents of Beirut’s densely populated southern suburbs of Dahiyeh and hundreds of square kilometres of southern Lebanon, forcing civilians to flee their homes from Israeli strikes.
Displaced people fleeing Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, sleep at Martyrs' Square in downtown Beirut, Lebanon. AP
20:00 Anti-war demonstrators took to the streets across three continents in opposition to the US-Israeli war on Iran.
In Britain, shortly after dawn, protesters gathered at the entrance of RAF Fairford, an air force base in southwest England currently being used by US forces to stage strikes.
Dozens held signs reading “Hands off Iran,” “Peace,” and “Yanks go home,” as a US bomber capable of carrying 24 cruise missiles landed at the Gloucestershire site, with three more having arrived earlier, the BBC reported.
The British broadcaster said they were among the 50 to 60 protesters at RAF Fairford. They said they believed "a lot of people are going gung-ho into this war without any thought."
"Starmer needs to stand up and say, 'No, don't use our bases'," they added.
In Cyprus, hundreds marched through the streets of Nicosia, the capital, chanting “Out with the bases of death!” and “Ay oh, British bases got to go!” The Guardian reported.
They marched to the presidential palace to protest the continued presence of British military bases, established under a 1960 independence agreement for the former colony.
“They are a danger to our security and should never have been here in the first place,” said Mathaios Stavrinides, holding a banner declaring: “Cyprus is not your launchpad.”
In South Africa, dozens gathered outside the US consulate in Johannesburg, holding photos of Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei, the Iranian flag, and signs condemning Israel.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Wednesday that his country is “always ready” to help mediate the escalating war in the Middle East.
19:00 Medical staff at Gandhi Hospital held a demonstration to protest US and Israeli strikes on healthcare facilities across Iran, Al Jazeera reported.
Gandhi Hospital was hit just a day after the US and Israel waged their war against Iran last week.
The World Health Organization said the hospital had been evacuated after nearby explosions, and witnesses told Reuters that Israeli strikes had struck the facility.
Staff waved Iranian flags in solidarity, voicing outrage over attacks on hospitals, ambulances, and medical centres nationwide. Authorities reported four health workers killed and 25 injured, with no patient deaths, and major hospitals were evacuated safely.
“WHO has verified 13 attacks on healthcare in Iran and one in Lebanon,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference on Thursday.
Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Ali Bahreini, said hospitals across the country had faced “indiscriminate attacks.” A spokesperson for Iran’s foreign ministry called the strikes a “blatant war crime,” while Tedros described the incident as “extremely worrying,” noting that “health facilities are protected under international humanitarian law.”
Mohammad Raeiszadeh, head of Iran’s Medical Council, told state media that the hospital’s in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) department was destroyed in the strike.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Médecins Sans Frontières, and WHO have urged restraint, warning that the escalating situation threatens to collapse already fragile healthcare systems.
18:00 The Israeli occupation army has issued new forced displacement orders to civilians in southern Beirut as Tel Aviv prepares to launch a fresh wave of air strikes against the densely populated neighbourhood.
The Lebanese authorities stated on Saturday that Israeli airstrikes on the capital and elsewhere in the country have forced more than 500,000 people to flee their homes.
The government has opened shelters and schools to thousands of the displaced, but a growing number of people have been sleeping on sidewalks and corniche.
Earlier, authorities said the number of those killed in the Israeli strikes has climbed over 300 since Monday.
Workers clear electric wires from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the Mar Mikhael neighbourhood in Beirut's southern suburbs. AFP
17:30 The Emirati President Mohammed bin Zayed said that “the UAE has thick skin and bitter flesh,” an Arabic metaphor suggesting that the country is resilient and difficult to harm.
During a visit to a hospital in Abu Dhabi, which is treating those wounded in Iranian attacks on the UAE, President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan said the United Arab Emirates would emerge stronger and praised the role played by citizens and the military during what he described as a period of war.
“We are in a period of war,” he said, adding that the country remained stable. “The UAE is well.”
Mohamed bin Zayed said Emirati citizens had played a “great role,” while the country’s military establishment had performed its duties with distinction during the conflict.
He also pledged that the government would fulfil its responsibilities toward everyone in the country.
“We will carry out our duty toward all,” he said.
The UAE leader described the country as resilient, saying the UAE was “tough and resilient,” and promised that the nation would overcome the current challenges.
“I promise everyone that we will emerge stronger,” he said.
Mohamed bin Zayed also stressed that expatriates living in the United Arab Emirates were valued members of society.
“Residents in the UAE are our guests and part of our family,” he said.
A snapshot of UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed checking on wounded from Iranian strikes in a hospital. Photo courtesy of Sky News.
17:00 "Today Iran will be hit very hard!" Trump posted on his Truth Social media platform.
"Under serious consideration for destruction and certain death, because of Iran's bad behaviour, are areas and groups of people that were not considered for targeting until this moment in time."
Israel confirmed some of the biggest raids since the aerial bombardment of Iran began last Saturday, with a military academy, an underground command centre and a missile storage facility named as targets.
Pre-dawn AFP photos showed fire and smoke billowing from Tehran's Mehrabad International Airport, one of two that serve the capital.
Iranian President Pezeshkian struck a defiant tone in a speech broadcast on state TV in which he appeared to address Trump's demand on Friday for "unconditional surrender."
Iran's enemies "must take their wish for the unconditional surrender of the Iranian people to their graves," Pezeshkian replied.
Iran also hit back on Saturday, demonstrating that it retains the ability to launch missiles and drones despite the relentless targeting of its military infrastructure over the last seven days.
There were air raid alerts, and explosions heard above Jerusalem as well as Gulf cities Dubai, Manama and near Riyadh, where Saudi Arabia intercepted a ballistic missile fired at an air base housing US military personnel.
16:30 Intense Israeli airstrikes on the eastern town of Nabi Chit leave 41 dead and 40 wounded
The area witnessed intense clashes and airstrikes overnight after an Israeli commando force landed there and clashed with local fighters.
The Lebanese army said the dead included three Lebanese troops.
The Israeli commandos were looking for information about Israeli navigator Ron Arad, who went missing after his fighter jet crashed in Lebanon 40 years ago. The occupation army said it did not find Arad’s remains.
Earlier on Saturday, the Lebanese Health Ministry said that overnight airstrikes in that area killed at least 16 people and wounded 35.
A snapshot of people checking the damage left by Israeli airstrikes, in the village of Nabi Chit, eastern Lebanon. Photo courtesy of Al-Jazeera.
15:00 The United Arab Emirates said Iran launched 16 ballistic missiles and 121 drones at the country on Saturday, with only two drones striking the nation.
12:00 Iraq has extended the closure of its airspace for another 72 hours. The Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority said airspace will remain closed until 12 pm (0900 GMT) Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Qatar Airways says it will operate six flights into Doha on Sunday through a “safe corridor,” as the country’s airspace remains closed. The state-owned airline said the flights will come from five European cities as well as Bangkok.
11:30 Sirens warning of incoming missiles sounded in Jerusalem and parts of the West Bank.
11:20 Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian apologized Saturday for attacks on regional countries even as Iranian missiles and drones flew toward Gulf Arab states, suggesting Tehran’s political leadership could not exercise full command over the armed forces.
Iran’s president says US demand for an unconditional surrender is a ‘dream that they should take to their grave’.
11:15 Bahrain’s military intercepted two missiles and a drone on Saturday, the Defence Ministry said.
That brings the total to 86 missiles and 148 drones that have been intercepted over Bahrain since the US and Israel launched war against Iran last weekend.
11:00 Emirates said Saturday the airline would resume operations after temporarily halting them following an Iranian attack on Dubai.
The news brought cheers in Dubai International Airport, where passengers had been sheltering after hearing a large boom overhead.
Authorities have not explained if there was an interception or damage at the airport, which is the world’s busiest for international travel.
Smoke rising from the Dubai International Airport. Dubai airport, the world's busiest for international traffic, suspended operations. AFP
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