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LAST UPDATE | 15 mins ago
INTENSE ISRAELI AIR strikes pounded the capitals of Iran and Lebanon early today with the US apparently striking an Iranian drone carrier at sea, intensifying its campaign targeting the Islamic Republic’s fleet of warships.
Iran launched new retaliatory attacks in the Middle East at the end of a full week of bombardment, which US defence secretary Pete Hegseth warned was “about to surge dramatically”.
Israel’s military said this morning it had begun “a broad-scale wave of strikes” on Tehran, Iran’s capital.
The war has escalated to affect countries across the Middle East and beyond.
Early today, Iran fired missile and drone attacks into Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, all countries that host US forces. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
In Lebanon, where the war has intensified fighting between Israel and Iran-allied Hezbollah militants, Israel launched a series of airstrikes late on Thursday and into today in the southern suburbs of Beirut and other areas.
Motorists jammed roads trying to flee or seek shelter.
Aid group Oxfam has said this morning that the charity and it partners are scaling up its emergency response by supporting thousands of people across shelters in Mount Lebanon, the South, and the Bekaa, providing bedding kits, hygiene kits, menstrual hygiene management kits, and clean water.
Oxfam in Lebanon is trying to respond to the immediate needs of people who have been “forcibly displaced by Israel’s bombardment and ground invasion of Lebanon”, as the conflict across the region enters a dangerous phase.
“This expansion of Israeli occupation and its bombing of Lebanon will devastate people across Lebanon who had not yet recovered from the last wave of violence, inflicting more trauma on an already traumatized population,” said Lebanon country director Bachir Ayoub.
“Once again, families have been forced from their beds and their homes as Israel rained bombs down on their communities”.
The group warned that there are almost 60 million people who already rely on humanitarian aid, with the broader escalation in the region triggering further mass forced displacement and “pushing humanitarian conditions further towards catastrophe”.
“Global inaction has set the scene for this dangerous escalation,” said Ayoub.
“The inability of the international community to hold Israel accountable for its ongoing violations of international law has led us to this point, where we again see hundreds of thousands of people in Lebanon forced to flee in the march towards a wider regional war.”
The US and Israel have battered Iran with nationwide strikes, targeting their military capabilities, leadership and nuclear programme.
Iran’s attacks have targeted Arab neighbours, disrupted oil supplies and snarled global air travel.
Witnesses described the Israeli airstrikes this morning as particularly intense, shaking homes in the area. Others reported explosions around the Iranian city of Kermanshah in an area that is home to multiple missile bases.
The Israeli military said strikes have already destroyed most of Iran’s air defences and missile launchers.
The war has killed at least 1,230 people in Iran, more than 120 in Lebanon and around a dozen in Israel, according to officials in those countries. Six US troops have been killed.
The US military said early today that it struck an Iranian drone carrier, setting it ablaze.
The US military’s Central Command released black-and-white footage of the burning carrier. The Iranian military did not immediately acknowledge the attack.
The drone carrier, the IRIS Shahid Bagheri, is a converted container ship with a 180 metre runway for drones.
The vessel can travel up to 22,000 nautical miles without needing to refuel in ports, reports said at the time of its 2005 inauguration.
Admiral Brad Cooper, head of US Central Command, described the carrier as “roughly the size of a World War II aircraft carrier”.
“As we speak, it’s on fire,” Mr Cooper told reporters.
Speaking alongside Cooper, Hegseth gave few details on Thursday when he promised an upcoming surge.
“It’s more fighter squadrons, it’s more capabilities, it’s more defensive capabilities,” he said. “And it’s more bomber pulses more frequently.”
Qatar’s Defence Ministry reported it intercepted a drone attack targeting Al Udeid Air Base, which hosts the forward headquarters of US Central Command.
A spokesperson for Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Defence said it had intercepted and destroyed three ballistic missiles fired early today toward Prince Sultan Air Base south of Riyadh, which hosts US forces.
Air raid sirens sounded in Bahrain, where the Interior Ministry said Iranian strikes targeted two hotels and a residential building. It said there were no casualties.
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