BEIRUT/TEL AVIV/DOHA/DUBAI, (Reuters): Israel launched new air strikes targeting Iran and expanded its assault to include attacks on Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon on Monday, as Tehran said it launched a new wave of missiles that had “opened the great gates of fire” on Israel.
Israel said it was attacking sites connected to Lebanon’s Shi’ite Muslim Hezbollah militants, one of Tehran’s principal allies in the Middle East, after Hezbollah said it launched missiles and drones toward Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Lebanese state news agency NNA said an initial tally showed 31 people had been killed and 149 injured in the strikes, which Israel said targeted Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut. Israel said it also struck senior Hezbollah militants.
Israel also launched more strikes against Iran. Explosions were heard in different parts of Tehran, with a hit on Iran’s Sanandaj city in the western Kurdistan province killing at least three people, state media said.
Shortly after 7:00 a.m. (0500 GMT) air raid sirens were triggered across Israel, including in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, warning of a fresh Iranian attack.
Missiles were being launched from central parts of Iran towards “enemy locations”, Iranian state media said.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps in a statement said the missile wave targeted the Israeli government complex in Tel Aviv, as well as military and security centres in Haifa and areas in East Jerusalem, saying those attacks would expand and air raid sirens in Israel “would never stop”.
U.S. President Donald Trump in interviews on Sunday with multiple news outlets said the U.S.-Israeli military assault on Iranian targets could continue for at least four weeks.
UK CYPRUS BASE HIT, BLASTS IN QATAR, KUWAIT, UAE
Kuwait said its air defences intercepted hostile drones while the U.S. embassy in the Gulf state issued a warning to take cover due to the threat of missile and hostile drone attacks.
Witnesses saw a heavy presence of security, ambulances and fire trucks near the U.S. embassy, while a video obtained by Reuters showed black smoke rising from the surrounding area.
Reuters witnesses also heard loud blasts in Dubai, the Qatari capital Doha and Samha, about 50 km (31 miles) from Abu Dhabi.
A drone strike hit Britain’s Royal Air Force base of Akrotiri in Cyprus overnight, causing limited damage and no casualties, the island’s president and Britain’s defence ministry said on Monday, in the first attack on the base since an assault by Libyan militants in 1986, and a marked escalation to the conflict.
‘PROLONGED DAYS OF COMBAT AHEAD’
The Hezbollah and Israel tit-for-tat attacks, which follow a U.S.-brokered ceasefire in 2024, widen the conflict that has spread through the Middle East since the United States and Israel attacked Iran on Saturday, sending oil prices soaring and snarling air travel.
Israeli’s military Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir said combat operations against Hezbollah could be prolonged, lasting days.
