The United States and Israel have hit thousands of targets inside Iran, continuing their joint war and killing at least 787 people, including over 168 children.
Tehran retaliated by escalating attacks on Israel and US-linked targets across the Middle East. Four US soldiers have been killed, while three US fighter jets were mistakenly shot down by Kuwaiti forces.
In Lebanon, Hezbollah fired missiles at Israel, prompting fresh Israeli airstrikes that killed at least 52 Lebanese, wounded over 154, and displaced tens of thousands.
The chaos became apparent when Kuwait had “mistakenly shot down” three American F-15E Strike Eagles.
While Trump refused a timeline for the war, his Defence Secretary said it would not be “endless."
Oil prices have surged sharply as the war disrupts supplies, while countries scramble to evacuate citizens from Gulf states amid widespread flight cancellations and airport closures.
02:26 The US military commander in the Middle East said American forces had struck nearly 2,000 targets so far in Iran as part of the largest firepower buildup in the region in a generation.
"We've already struck nearly 2,000 targets with more than 2,000 munitions. We have severely degraded Iran's air defences and destroyed hundreds of Iran's ballistic missiles, launchers and drones," Admiral Brad Cooper of US Central Command said in a video message.
"The first 24 hours of this operation were nearly double the scale of the first day of shock-and-awe strikes on Iraq in 2003, and we continue with 24/7 strikes into Iran," he added.
23:50 An Iranian ballistic missile hit the United States' military base at Al-Udeid, Qatar's defence ministry said, as Tehran struck targets across the Gulf in retaliation for US-Israeli attacks.
The ministry said Qatar was targeted by two missiles, adding, "Air defence systems successfully intercepted one of the missiles, while the second missile struck Al-Udeid Qatari Base without causing any casualties."
22:30 President Donald Trump said the US Navy would escort oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz if needed amid the Iran war and ordered Washington to provide insurance for shipping.
"If necessary, the United States Navy will begin escorting tankers through the Strait of Hormuz as soon as possible. No matter what, the United States will ensure the FREE FLOW of ENERGY to the WORLD," Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
22:15 French President Emmanuel Macron warned against an Israeli ground invasion of Lebanon.
"Israel is reportedly considering a ground operation: this too would be a dangerous escalation and a strategic error," he said in a televised speech, calling on Israel to "respect Lebanese territory and its integrity."
The French president also denounced the US and Israel for launching the opening strikes that started the war, saying that the attack was “conducted outside international law, which we cannot approve of."
Macron added that France was sending an aircraft carrier to the Mediterranean in response to the widening conflict in the Middle East.
"I have ordered the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, its air assets, and its escort of frigates to set course for the Mediterranean," said Macron
"I have also decided to send additional air defence assets and a French frigate, the Languedoc, which will arrive off the coast of Cyprus this evening," he said.
French President Emmanuel Macron gestures before greeting the president of Singapore at the Elysée Palace in Paris on March 3, 2026. AFP
21:50 In a follow-up to earlier reports of explosions heard across Dubai and other cities in the United Arab Emirates, the Dubai Media Office said it “confirmed that a fire resulting from a drone-related incident near the US Consulate has been successfully contained.”
It added that “Emergency teams responded immediately. No injuries have been reported.”
21:45 US President Donald Trump lashed out at Britain and Spain for not fully backing his attack on Iran, as he threatened to end "all trade" with Spain.
"I'm not happy with the UK," Trump said, as he said of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, "This is not Winston Churchill that we're dealing with."
Starmer stated that the United States was not authorized to use UK bases in Cyprus, but said the US could use two others, one in Gloucestershire in western England and the other at the joint UK-US Diego Garcia base in the Indian Ocean.
Trump also voiced fury at Spain, where the government of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has not allowed the United States to attack Iran through bases long used by US forces.
"Spain has been terrible," Trump said, adding that he has asked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to "cut off all dealings with Spain."
Trump was speaking alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the White House, who called for an early end to the war, voicing fear for the global economy.
"This is, of course, damaging our economies. This is true for the oil prices, and this is true for the gas prices as well," Merz told reporters in the Oval Office.
"So that's the reason why we all hope that this war will come to an end as soon as possible," Merz said.
President Donald Trump meets with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington. AP
21:30 Iran fired another salvo of missiles at Israel on Tuesday evening, the Revolutionary Guards said in a statement carried by the Fars news agency.
"The sixteenth wave of 'Operation True Promise 4' has begun with a large number of missiles and drones launched by the aerospace forces of the Revolutionary Guards against the heart of the occupied territories," the statement said, referring to Israel.
21:00 Iran is ready for a long war against the United States and Israel and has so far not used its most advanced weapons, its defence ministry said Tuesday.
"We have the capacity to resist and to continue an offensive defence longer than what (the enemy) has planned for this imposed war," ministry spokesman Reza Talaei-Nik was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.
"We do not intend to deploy all our advanced weapons and equipment in the first days," he added.
20:30 Iran’s General Staff of the Armed Forces denied claims that it carried out military operations targeting the territory or ports of its “friend and neighbour,” Oman.
The statement came after a fuel tank at the Duqm commercial port was struck by several unmanned aircraft on Tuesday, according to the Oman News Agency.
Authorities said the damage was contained and there were no casualties.
20:00 Iran’s ambassador to Geneva, Ali Bahreini, sharply criticized the United States for attacking Iran amid ongoing negotiations, calling it a “totally stupid decision” and accusing Washington of betraying Gulf nations by undermining diplomatic efforts.
“It was a totally stupid decision. They will know in the future how stupid this decision has been. Both of them will understand, because Iran will firmly determine the situation and the destiny of this war,” he said, warning that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had persuaded US President Donald Trump to abandon diplomacy and launch attacks on Iran.
“All our neighbours are now disappointed with the betrayal of the United States because everybody was working for diplomacy, particularly Oman. The US betrayed everybody,” he added.
Bahreini emphasized that Tehran had no problem with its neighbours but would not allow US bases in the Gulf to be used as launchpads for attacks on Iran.
“War was not our option. War was imposed on Iran,” he told UN correspondents.
“Nobody should expect Iran to show restraint in the face of aggression. We will continue our defence until the point that this aggression is stopped,” he said.
Iran's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Ali Bahreini, holds a press conference on the Middle East war, at the UN Offices in Geneva. AFP
19:40 Loud explosions were heard across the cities of Doha, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, according to AFP reporters and residents.
Journalists heard loud explosions reverberating in the Qatari capital and in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, while two residents told AFP they heard explosions in the UAE capital, Abu Dhabi.
Dubai authorities later said the explosions heard across the city were caused by "interception operations" by air defence forces.
"The relevant Dubai teams continue to closely monitor the situation and are taking all necessary measures to ensure public safety," the Dubai media office said in a statement posted on X.
19:00 President Donald Trump made a striking admission about the US‑Israeli war on Iran, acknowledging the attacks were killing many of the same figures Washington had hoped might lead the country.
“There was another hit today on the new leadership, and it looks like that was pretty substantial,” he said from the Oval Office. “So they’re getting hit very hard.”
When asked who he would like to take over Iranian leadership, Trump said bluntly, “Most of the people we had in mind are dead.”
He also denied that Israel pulled the US into launching a war on Iran.
“They were going to attack if we didn’t do it; they were going to attack first,” he said of Iran. “I felt strongly about that.”
He added, “If anything, I might have forced Israel’s hand.”
A day earlier, Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested the president decided to launch attacks on Iran because the US believed Israel was poised to take unilateral action.
US President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on March 3, 2026.
18:30 The United Nations peacekeeping forces in Lebanon said they observed Israeli forces crossing into areas near four Lebanese villages before returning south of the Blue Line, the de facto border established after Israel ended its occupation of southern Lebanon in 2000.
UNIFIL added that over the past two days, it recorded several Israeli airstrikes and hundreds of incidents of fire across the Blue Line and 84 air violations.
"Each of these incidents constitutes a serious breach of resolution 1701," UNIFIL said.
The latest Israeli violations come as the Israeli army has refused to pull out of Lebanon and continues to occupy five positions in the south.
The Israeli army has also regularly targeted UNIFIL forces near the border.
"Despite extremely challenging conditions, peacekeepers continue to carry out their mandated tasks under resolution 1701 and will keep reporting developments to the Security Council," added UNIFIL.
Image showing UNIFIL forces in southern Lebanon. Courtesy @UNPeacekeeping on X
18:20 British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Tuesday that Britain was sending helicopters with counter-drone capabilities to Cyprus and was deploying the air defence destroyer HMS Dragon to the region.
18:00 An Islamic Revolutionary Guard general warned Tuesday that continued US-Israeli attacks would see Iran conduct reprisals against "all economic centres" in the Middle East.
"We are saying to the enemy that if it decides to hit our main centres, we will hit all economic centres in the region," said Ebrahim Jabbari.
"We have closed the Strait of Hormuz. Currently, the price of oil is above $80 and will soon reach $200," he was quoted as saying by Iranian news agency ISNA, as Brent crude climbed above $85 for the first time since July 2024.
17:30 Loud explosions rocked Tehran, with Israel's military later saying it had launched a new "large-scale" wave of strikes on the capital, "targeting the Iranian terror regime's infrastructure in Tehran."
Iranian media said central Tehran was struck, as well as the religious city of Qom, where the building used by the official body that selects Iran's new supreme leader was hit.
17:00 Hezbollah said it targeted an Israeli tank on the edge of a Lebanese border village on Tuesday, hours after Israel's defence minister ordered his troops to take control of more strategic positions inside Lebanon.
In a statement, the Iran-aligned group said, "In response to the criminal Israeli aggression... and after monitoring movements by the Israeli enemy army in Tel Nahas on the outskirts of Kfar Kila, our fighters targeted a Merkava tank with appropriate weapons and scored a direct hit."
Earlier Tuesday, a Lebanese army source told AFP that Israel was undertaking a ground incursion "from Kfar Kila and the Khiam plains" along the Lebanon-Israel border.
16:30 China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Israeli counterpart that Beijing was against the military strikes on Iran in a phone call on Tuesday, state media reported.
Beijing, a close partner of Tehran, has called for a ceasefire and condemned Khamenei's killing as a "serious violation."
Speaking to Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, Wang said China advocated resolving issues through "dialogue and consultation," according to state news agency Xinhua.
"The recent Iran-US negotiations were making obvious progress... Regrettably, this process has been interrupted by gunfire," Wang said.
Reiterating Beijing's opposition to the US-Israeli military strikes, Wang said, "Force cannot truly solve problems; instead, it will only bring new problems and severe after-effects."
"China calls for an immediate halt to military operations to prevent the conflict from further spreading and getting out of control," he added.
16:20 Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that Hezbollah said it had shot down an Israeli drone over southern Lebanon.
The group said the action came “In response to the criminal Israeli aggression that targeted dozens of Lebanese cities and towns, including Beirut’s southern suburbs,” adding that its fighters brought down the drone over the city of Nabatieh in southern Lebanon.
15:42 An adviser to Iran’s Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces said missile facilities had been evacuated in advance of US-Israeli strikes and that the buildings targeted were empty.
The adviser added that the enemy was striking bases lacking military equipment and personnel.
He also said the enemy had launched its war based on miscalculations and would not achieve its objective.
14:50 AFP journalists in the Bahraini and Qatari capitals heard more explosions on Tuesday, as Iran carried out a fourth day of attacks on Gulf countries.
The correspondents said they heard several blasts in Manama, and air raid sirens sounded off, while explosions were also heard in Doha.
Motorists drive past a plume of smoke rising from a reported Iranian strike in the industrial district of Doha. AFP
14:20 The State Department has urged Americans to immediately leave 14 countries and closed US embassies in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait after they were hit by drones.
The latest advisory applies to Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, the occupied West Bank and Gaza, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.
In a statement posted on X, Mora Namdar, the State Department’s assistant secretary for consular affairs, said US citizens should “DEPART NOW” from the countries listed using available commercial transportation “due to serious safety risks.”
Smoke rises from a reported Iranian strike in the area where the US Embassy is located in Kuwait City. AFP
14:10 Amazon’s cloud computing business said two of its facilities in the United Arab Emirates had been struck by drones and remained “significantly impaired” early Tuesday.
One of the strikes occurred on Sunday and sparked a fire at the data centre, Amazon Web Services previously said.
A drone also landed close to one of its facilities in Bahrain, damaging it, the company said.
Customers who use its Middle East facilities should “consider taking action now to back up data and potentially migrate your workloads” to facilities in other regions, the company said.
A black plume of smoke rises from a warehouse in the industrial area of Sharjah City in the United Arab Emirates following reports of Iranian strikes in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. AFP
14:05 Oil prices have continued to climb. Brent crude, the international benchmark, was trading 5 percent higher at nearly $82 a barrel, the highest in a year.
European natural gas futures surged 25 percent, extending a jump from Monday, when Qatar’s state-owned energy company said it would stop production of liquified natural gas after an Iranian drone attack.
European stock markets sank for a second day as traders assessed the potential for lasting disruptions to international energy supplies.
The Stoxx Europe 600 fell more than 2.6 percent, its steepest drop since April. Benchmark indexes in London, Paris, and Frankfurt all fell between 2 and 3 percent.
13:55 Hezbollah said on Tuesday that Lebanon was facing the prospect of an all-out war with Israel, as Israeli forces invaded and seized parts of southern Lebanon in a sharp escalation of the conflict.
“The phase of patience has ended, leaving us with no option but to return to resistance,” Mahmoud Qamati, senior Hezbollah official, said in a statement. If Israel wants an open war, he added, “then let it be an open war.”
13:45 The UN human rights office, without naming them, urged the forces behind an attack on a girls' school in Iran to investigate and share insights into the "horrific" incident.
"The High Commissioner (Volker Turk) calls for a prompt, impartial and thorough investigation into the circumstances of the attack. The onus is on the forces that attacked to investigate it," UN human rights office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US forces "would not deliberately target a school," after Iranian state media reported over 175 were killed on the first day of the US and Israeli attacks on Iran on Saturday.
In related news, Turk said Tuesday he was "deeply shocked" by how the war in the Middle East is affecting civilians, with fear, panic, and anxiety palpable across the region.
Turk "is deeply shocked by the impacts of the widespread hostilities on civilians and civilian infrastructure since the conflict erupted on Saturday with Israel and the United States of America's attacks on Iran, Iran's response against states across the region, as well as Hezbollah's subsequent entry into the conflict," his spokeswoman, Ravina Shamdasani, told a press conference in Geneva.
The 14 teachers were killed by the Israeli-American strike on the first day. Photo courtesy of Tasnim.
13:45 Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun said Tuesday that the decision to ban Hezbollah's military activities is "irreversible," as the Iran-aligned movement claimed responsibility for new attacks targeting Israeli positions.
Speaking to members of the Quintet, a committee made up of the French, US, Qatari, Saudi Arabian, and Egyptian ambassadors, the president called the decision "final," after Hezbollah on Monday night lambasted the state's "impotence in the face of the brutal Zionist enemy."
Aoun urged the Quintet members to "pressure Israel to stop its aggressions against Lebanon" as Israel continued launching intense strikes and authorized its troops to "take control of additional strategic positions in Lebanon."
File Photo: Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun speaks to journalists at the presidential palace in Baabda. AFP
13:30 Israel’s military said it bombed several government buildings in the Iranian capital of Tehran overnight on Tuesday, including the presidential office and the country’s Supreme National Security Council.
Bombarding them “further degrades the functional continuity of the regime’s command and control systems,” the Israeli military said.
13:15 A Lebanese military source has told Al Jazeera that the army has pulled its troops back from the border area to ensure their safety amid an escalation in Israeli attacks.
Earlier, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said the Lebanese army is evacuating “advanced positions” along the border with Israel, with Reuters reporting it has withdrawn from at least seven forward operating positions along the border, quoting witnesses.
The moves come as Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz said Israel’s army had been instructed “to advance and seize additional controlling areas in Lebanon to prevent firing on Israeli border settlements," following an earlier deployment of troops to the border.
Israeli army tank advancing into Lebanese territory. Photo courtesy of Quds news.
12:45 Egypt has called on Israel to immediately stop its military operations in Lebanon, warning that continued strikes threaten regional stability and Lebanon’s security.
This came in a phone call from Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty with Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam as part of ongoing consultations between the two countries over the escalating conflict in the region.
Earlier on Monday, FM Abdelatty called on Iran to immediately halt attacks on neighbouring Arab countries, warning that the strikes threaten regional stability as cross-border fire intensifies across the Gulf.
Abdelatty held phone calls on Monday with his counterparts in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, as well as Jordan and Iraq, according to Egypt’s Foreign Ministry.
The calls included officials from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Jordan, and Iraq and focused on the latest wave of strikes and retaliatory attacks linked to the widening confrontation involving Washington, Tel Aviv, and Tehran.
12:25 The Iranian Red Crescent has updated the total death toll in the US-Israeli war on Iran to 787, a more than 40 percent increase from the humanitarian relief organization’s earlier numbers.
However, in its latest update, the Norway-based human rights group Hengaw said the death toll on day three had reached at least 1,500, including 200 civilians and 1,300 members of the Iranian forces.
There have been at least 1,039 recorded attacks on 504 locations, according to the Iranian Red Crescent.
12:15 The International Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed that the entrance buildings of Iran’s Natanz Fuel Enrichment Plant sustained some damage in the recent strikes.
However, no additional impact was detected at the nuclear facility itself, nor were any radiological consequences expected, according to the IAEA, which based its assessment on the latest available satellite imagery.
The underground nuclear facility had been “severely damaged” in the June strikes, the IAEA said.
12:00 Iran warned European countries on Tuesday against joining its conflict with Israel and the United States, after Germany, Britain, and France said they could take "defensive action" to destroy Iran's missile-launching capabilities.
"It would be an act of war. Any such act against Iran would be regarded as complicity with the aggressors. It would be regarded as an act of war against Iran," foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said at a press briefing when asked about the statement.
In related news, Israel has hit back at the Spanish government’s refusal to give the US permission to use jointly operated military bases on its territory to attack Iran, accusing the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, of being on the wrong side of history.
Sánchez has explicitly condemned the US and Israel’s “unilateral military action” against Iran, warning that it is contributing to “a more hostile and uncertain international order.” The rebukes have been reinforced by his government’s refusal to allow the US to use bases in Rota and Morón for the continuing strikes against Iran.
In a post on X on Monday evening, Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, accused Sánchez, a staunch critic of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza who led the movement to recognize the State of Palestine in the Old Continent, of "pandering to terrorists and oppressive regimes."
11:50 Conservative US commentator Tucker Carlson has urged the US to "get [Benjamin Netanyahu] under control."
"Sorry, it's not antisemitism. This is a head of state whose decisions are getting Americans killed and affecting the history of the world and the fortunes. Still, also the future of the United States," Carlson said in his latest podcast on Tucker Carlson Network.
The former Fox News host added, "The United States has to say to the government of Israel, 'You are not in charge.' ...No administration has paid a higher price for going along than the current administration."
Carlson, a Trump ally, had lobbied against military action and even met with Trump at the White House several times to dissuade him from an attack, according to the New York Times.
Several US leaders, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, had defended Washington's actions as "pre-emptive" because they knew Israel was going to strike.
"Donald Trump is the strongest leader in the world. He does what he thinks is right for America," Netanyahu told Fox News on Monday night.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with President Trump in the Oval Office of the White House. AP
11:30 Al-Azhar has called for an immediate end to the war in the region and the continued bloodshed of innocent civilians.
In a statement, Al-Azhar, the world's leading Sunni Islamic institution, expressed its rejection and condemnation of the violation of the sovereignty of Arab states, the aggression against their lands and resources, and the terrorizing of their peaceful populations.
Al-Azhar demanded an immediate cessation of these violations, emphasizing that such aggression is rejected by morality, religion, and law, regardless of any justifications, pretexts, or excuses.
It reiterated its call to the international community to intervene to establish peace in the Middle East, prevent the expansion of conflicts, and take decisive and urgent action to extinguish the flames of war, for which innocent civilian lives are being paid.
Al-Azhar urged all parties to exercise restraint and reason, to prioritize wisdom, religion, and humanity in this difficult crisis, and to return to the negotiating table without delay.
Motorists drive along a street as smoke rises from a reported Iranian strike in the area where the US Embassy is located in Kuwait City. AFP
11:20 Iraq’s Foreign Minister Fouad Hussein said that more than 70 missiles and drones struck the northern city of Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region of Northern Iraq, with additional attacks reported in the country’s south and west.
The Iranian-linked Iraqi group Saraya Awliya Al-Dam has claimed to have targeted American bases in Erbil on 1 March. Numerous reports in Erbil said they heard explosions in and around the airport
An agreement on US withdrawal from Iraq provides for a presence in Erbil to remain for much of 2026.
A plume of smoke rises near Erbil International Airport in Erbil, which hosts US-led coalition troops in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region. AFP
11:18 Hossein Sadeghi, head of the Information and Public Relations Centre of the Iranian Ministry of Education, told the Tasnim News Agency that from the total of 168 students who were martyred in the inhumane attack by the US and Israeli regime on the school, the identities of 99 individuals have been fully verified and their names have been released.
Sadeghi said the remaining 69 students are still unaccounted for, and their identities have not yet been confirmed.
He added that families will need to provide DNA samples to complete the identification of these victims.
The girls’ elementary school in Minab was struck during joint United States and Israeli military aggression against Iran on Saturday.
Videos shared by Iranian state media and independently verified by The New York Times showed thousands of people attending a funeral procession in the southern town of Minab on Tuesday for victims of the strike on an elementary school.
The school was in session on Saturday when an airstrike hit it, killing 175 people, Iranian officials and rights groups said.
Some of the funeral-goers held photographs of victims aloft as group prayers were recited, and a large vehicle carried small coffins draped in the Iranian flag through the crowd.
11:15 The death toll from Pakistan's violent weekend protests over the killing of Iran's supreme leader in US-Israeli strikes has reached at least 25, according to an AFP tally on Monday.
The demonstrations against the US/Israeli assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei erupted in several major Pakistani cities, including Karachi, where hundreds of protesters attempted to storm American diplomatic buildings and clashed with police.
At least 10 people died, and over 70 were injured in those rallies, according to the office of the Karachi police surgeon. AFP saw a hospital toll that said nine of the deaths were due to gunshot wounds.
In the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region, at least 13 people were killed in clashes between protesters and police, officials said. Of those, seven were killed in Gilgit, a rescue official said, while six others died in Skardu, a doctor told AFP on Monday.
Authorities have imposed a late-night curfew until Wednesday in Gilgit and Skardu, where the army has been deployed on the streets.
Two more people were killed as thousands gathered in the streets of the capital, Islamabad, many holding portraits of Khamenei.
On Sunday afternoon, AFP journalists had seen police firing tear gas to disperse crowds near the diplomatic enclave housing the US embassy in Islamabad.
Activists and supporters of the Jamaat-e-Islami party shout slogans during an anti-US and Israel protest in Peshawar after the death of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei amid US-Israel strikes. AFP
11:05 Authorities in the UAE say they have brought a fire under control at the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone after debris from a downed drone ignited flames. No casualties have been reported.
In a statement on X, officials in Fujairah said emergency teams moved swiftly after debris fell following the interception of a drone by air defence systems.
People watch from a street as a tall smoke plume billows following an explosion in the Fujairah industrial zone. AFP
10:50 The main command centre of a US air base in Bahrain was attacked and destroyed by Iranian missiles and drones, according to the Iranian Tasnim News Agency.
The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Public Relations Department said in a statement on Tuesday morning that the building, located in Bahrain’s Sheikh Issa district, was targeted in the 14th wave of Iran’s True Promise 4 Operation.
It was targeted in a massive strike during which 20 drones and 3 missiles hit and destroyed the building and set its main fuel tankers ablaze, the statement added.
10:35 The US embassy in Kuwait on Tuesday said it was closed until further notice, a day after an AFP correspondent saw smoke rising from the mission following Iranian attacks on the country.
"Due to ongoing regional tensions, the US Embassy in Kuwait will be closed until further notice. We have cancelled all regular and emergency consular appointments," the embassy said in a statement on X.
The US State Department has reportedly ordered the departure of non-emergency government personnel and family members from Qatar and Kuwait.
The move came after the department said earlier on Tuesday it had ordered non-emergency personnel and their families to leave Bahrain and Jordan.
It also announced it had ordered staff in Iraq to leave a day earlier, amid Iran’s retaliation over US-Israeli strikes.
The department said in a post on X before the latest order that it had updated travel advisories for Bahrain and Jordan “to reflect the ordered departure of non-emergency US government personnel and family members of government personnel.”
In an updated travel advisory on Iraq, the department said it had on Monday “ordered non-emergency US government employees to leave Iraq due to security concerns.”
10:20 Air France-KLM has cancelled its flights to and from the Middle East, the Franco-Dutch group said in statements overnight.
It said the safety of its customers and crew was a top priority and that it would assess the situation before resuming flights.
Air France cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv, Beirut, Dubai, and Riyadh up to and including Thursday.
KLM, the Dutch arm of the group, has cancelled flights to and from Dammam in Saudi Arabia, as well as Dubai and Riyadh, until 9 March, it said in a separate statement late on Monday.
The aftermath of a US/Israeli strike on Iran.
09:30 Israeli soldiers have seized new areas of southern Lebanon as part of the escalation with Hezbollah, Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesman, told reporters. He claimed the areas were close to the Israeli border, suggesting that Israeli forces had not advanced much deeper into the country.
Plumes of smoke rise from the sites of Israeli airstrikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut. AFP
09:20 "The US Embassy in Riyadh was attacked by two drones, according to initial assessments. The attack resulted in a limited fire and minor material damage to the building," the statement said after witnesses told AFP they had seen smoke over the building housing the US diplomatic mission.
A source close to the Saudi army told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive issue, that Saudi air defence intercepted four drones targeting Riyadh's diplomatic quarter in the attack.
In the aftermath, the US embassy issued a shelter-in-place notification for citizens in Jeddah, Riyadh, and Dhahran.
File Photo: General view of the USA embassy in Riyadh. AFP
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