(AFP) – The war launched by the United States and Israel against Iran spread across the Middle East and beyond on Monday, with Lebanon’s Hezbollah entering the fray and a British air base in Cyprus targeted. The Israeli military said it began new strikes on Tehran, as AFP reporters in the Iranian capital heard explosions ring out on the third day of the US-Israeli joint assault and blasts rocked Lebanon’s capital, Beirut. Gulf monarchies threatened to retaliate as a Saudi oil refinery burned, Qatar halted LNG production, tankers were attacked off Oman, and energy prices soared.
Washington’s senior military officer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine, told reporters that US forces had achieved air superiority over Iran to “allow them to continue the work”. Meanwhile, black smoke rose from the US embassy complex in Kuwait as Iran pressed on with attacks it launched in retaliation for the US and Israeli campaign that killed its supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Also in Kuwait, a US base and a power station were targeted, while three US F-15E Strike Eagle jets were downed by friendly fire. The pilots and weapons officers survived.
“During active combat — that included attacks from Iranian aircraft, ballistic missiles, and drones — the US Air Force fighter jets were mistakenly shot down by Kuwaiti air defences,” CENTCOM said. Ali Larijani, the powerful head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, voiced defiance, vowing that Iran would defend itself “regardless of the costs and will make the enemies sorry for their miscalculation”.
US President Donald Trump’s administration also vowed to stay the course. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters that no US troops were yet on the ground in Iran, but added: “We’ll go as far as we need to go.” Khamenei’s wife, 79-year-old Mansoureh Khojasteh Bagherzadeh, died of her wounds on Monday, three days after the strike that killed her husband and several senior Iranian commanders, Iranian media reported. Tehran had the air of a ghost town, and many residents seemed to have left. Some, suitcases and luggage in hand, were preparing to do the same, AFP journalists saw. Most of the vehicles on the otherwise mostly deserted roads were food delivery vehicles. Customers rushed to buy fruit and bread from a few shops still open in the Tajrish bazaar.
Near the headquarters of state television, which was targeted by air strikes on Sunday evening, the smell of burning was still noticeable more than 12 hours later. “When we hear the noises, depending on how close it hit, we feel shaking in the windows and doors,” said 31-year-old Saghar, in a voice message to her relatives in Europe. Many residents were torn between fear of the bombings and hope that the government’s days might now be numbered. “Every time we hear the noises, we get scared for just a second. But we experience some joy and excitement every time we hear a hit,” a 45-year-old lawyer said, also in a voice message to Europe.
An Iranian drone hit the runway of a UK air force base in Akrotiri in Cyprus, whose government announced that the major airport in its town of Paphos and the area around the British facility would be evacuated. A Cypriot government spokesman said two more drones targeting the base were “dealt with in a timely manner”, and Greece announced it was deploying frigates and jets to help protect Cyprus, a fellow EU member. Israel and the US have been striking targets across Iran since Saturday. The war that began with Khamenei’s killing has engulfed the region, with explosions ringing out in Dubai, Bahrain, Iraq, and elsewhere. Flights through the region’s hubs have been cancelled, disrupting international travel for many thousands of people, but Dubai announced that its airports would partially reopen later Monday.
In Lebanon, the strikes have triggered a new round of violence between Israel and Hezbollah, with the Iran-backed group firing rockets and its enemy responding with bombing. “We will end this campaign with not just Iran being struck but with Hezbollah suffering a devastating blow,” Israel’s army chief Eyal Zamir said. “Our message is clear and resonates throughout the Middle East: We will strike all terrorist leaders and factions who rise to harm us. We have proven this and will continue to prove it.”
As Lebanon, which had vowed to disarm Hezbollah, was dragged into the war, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam announced “the immediate ban of all Hezbollah security and military activities”, deeming them “illegal”. Explosions rocked Beirut, while in southern Lebanon, residents fled, according to AFP journalists, after the Israeli military announced it was striking several parts of the country. In the southern city of Sidon, cars of families fled on packed roads with mattresses tied to their roofs.
The Israeli military said it had struck a senior Hezbollah operative in Beirut, while Lebanese authorities said Israeli strikes killed at least 31 people. In the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway that is key to global oil transit, three ships were attacked on Sunday after Iran had previously warned vessels against crossing. Such is the speed of the war’s expansion that there is no sign of any containment. AFP has not been able to verify the death tolls provided by Iranian sources. Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have urged Iranians to overthrow the government in Tehran, the sworn foe of Israel and the United States since the 1979 Islamic revolution toppled the pro-Western shah.
burs/dc/smw – Layal Abou Rahal with AFP bureaus in Tehran, Dubai and Jerusalem.
© 2024 AFP
