03/05/26 08:05More than 20,000 Israelis have returned since start of Iran war: ministry
More than 20,000 Israelis have returned to the country since the start of the Iran air war that began last Saturday, the Transportation Ministry said on Thursday.
Israel began to open its airspace on Thursday and allowed a handful of flights to land at Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv.
The ministry said 120,000 Israelis are currently abroad who wish to return to Israel and that the operation to repatriate them would likely take seven to 10 days.
It added that it was working to expand options for arriving in and departing from Israel by air, land and sea crossings.
– Reuters
03/05/26 08:01Israeli military issues evacuation orders in Beirut’s southern suburb
Israel’s military issued on Thursday an evacuation order for all residents of Beirut’s southern suburb.
On Wednesday, Israel warned residents to immediately leave a swathe of south Lebanon, ordering them to move north of the Litani River on the third day of full-blown hostilities with the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah.
– Reuters
03/05/26 07:57Supply of food to 50 million people in Gulf affected by blocked ports, group saysOpen this photo in gallery:
Maersk, the world’s biggest container shipping company, said on March 1 that it was halting passage through the narrow Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf, next to Iran, for “safety” reasons.SERGEI GAPON/AFP/Getty Images
The war in the Middle East has blocked access to major ports in the Gulf region, impacting the supply of food to over 50 million people in a region highly dependent on agricultural imports, a ship-spotting platform said Thursday.
MarineTraffic.com said that container vessels heading to ports in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait are now stranded.
This has impacted agricultural supplies to over 50 million people in the Gulf, a region that imports over 90% of its food, it said.
– The Associated Press
03/05/26 07:45At least 38,000 people have crossed from Lebanon into Syria, U.N. refugee agency saysOpen this photo in gallery:
A family originally from Syria, displaced from the southern suburbs of Beirut, sits along a seaside corniche in Beirut, Lebanon following renewed hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict.Claudia Greco/Reuters
The U.N. refugee agency, citing Syrian authorities, told The Associated Press that at least 38,000 people have crossed from Lebanon into Syria – mostly Syrians – in the wake of new fighting between Hezbollah and Israel.
On Wednesday, UNHCR and Lebanese officials said 84,000 people have been internally displaced within Lebanon.
“Across the Middle East and beyond, a troubling displacement picture is emerging in the aftermath of the ongoing conflicts in the region,” UNHCR spokesman Babar Baloch said Thursday.
UNHCR said Wednesday that 100,000 people were displaced within Iran in the first two days after U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran, but there are no immediate signs of large numbers of people trying to leave the country.
– The Associated Press
03/05/26 07:33UAE hit by missile and drones
The United Arab Emirates’ Defense Ministry said Thursday that one ballistic missile and six drones hit the country’s territory, as the war widens in the Middle East.
The ministry added in a statement that it repelled six missiles and 131 drones Thursday, and hundreds since the start of the war.
Earlier this week, shrapnel from the interception of cruise missiles killed three residents, and falling shrapnel in past days has wounded 94, it said.
– The Associated Press
03/05/26 07:29A map of where Iran, the U.S. and Israel’s air attacks have hit so far
The war in the Middle East began on Feb. 28 when the United States and Israel struck Iran. Since then, the conflict has spread across the region.
According to the Iranian Red Crescent, at least 1,230 people have been killed so far in Iran. At least six U.S. soldiers are dead. Reuters has counted 77 deaths in Lebanon, 13 in Iraq, 10 in Israel, four in Syria, three in the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait and one each in Bahrain and Oman.
Iran is striking back at Washington’s allies in the Persian Gulf and the wider Middle East, including Israel, with drones and missiles.
Here’s an overview of which countries have been attacked so far. Zoom in to learn more about the civilian and military sites affected.
03/05/26 07:15U.S. and Middle East countries seek Ukraine’s drone expertise
The United States and its allies in the Middle East are seeking Ukraine’s expertise in countering Iran’s Shahed drones, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Various countries, including the United States, have approached Ukraine for help in defending against the Iranian drones, Zelensky said late Wednesday. He said he has spoken in recent days with the leaders of the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait about possible cooperation.
Russia has fired tens of thousands of Shaheds at Ukraine since it invaded its neighbour just over four years ago, launching a swarm of more than 800 drones and decoys in its biggest nighttime barrage. Iran has responded to joint U.S.-Israeli strikes by launching the same type of drones at countries in the Middle East.
Ukrainian assistance in countering Iranian drones will be provided only if it does not weaken Ukraine’s own defenses, and if it adds leverage to Kyiv’s diplomatic efforts to stop the Russian invasion, according to the Ukrainian leader.
“We help to defend from war those who help us, Ukraine, bring a just end to the war” with Russia, Zelensky said.
– The Associated Press
03/05/26 07:09Italy to send aid to Gulf states and Cyprus after Iranian strikes
Italy is planning to send air defence aid to Gulf countries and naval assets to Cyprus after Iranian air strikes, the government said on Thursday, amid concern for the safety of citizens and troops in the region, as well as for energy security.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Italy would respond to aid requests from Gulf nations seeking air defence equipment to counter Iranian air strikes, while also looking to protect Italians on the ground.
“These are people we want to, and must, protect,” Meloni told radio station RTL 102.5.
In an address to the lower house of Italian Parliament, Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said Italy had also lifted its national air defences to the highest level.
“When faced with a reckless reaction, we can expect anything and everything,” he said, referring to Iran’s retaliatory strikes this week. He added Rome would send vessels to protect Cyprus along with some European allies.
– Reuters
03/05/26 06:56Oil rises on supply concerns as Iran conflict widens
Oil prices rose on Thursday, extending a rally as the escalating U.S.-Israeli war with Iran disrupted supplies and shipping, prompting some major producers to cut output and others to take measures to ensure supply security.
Brent crude was up $1.72, or 2.1 per cent, at $83.12 per barrel by 1106 GMT, a fifth session of gains. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude rose $1.95, or 2.6 per cent, to $76.61.
Oil markets are tightening, with the Chinese government telling the largest oil refiners to suspend exports of diesel and gasoline, said PVM analyst John Evans.
Two oil refineries in China and India shut their crude units following the disruption to supplies, as both countries rely on Middle East crude imports.
As a result of a lower supply outlook in fuel markets, European diesel futures reached their highest level since October 2022 at $1,130.
– Reuters
03/05/26 06:53Azerbaijan vows to respond after four injured by Iranian dronesOpen this photo in gallery:
Damages of a school in Julfa following what Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry says was a drone attack carried out by Iran on its exclave of Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan on Thursday.The Associated Press
Azerbaijan warned on Thursday that it was preparing unspecified response measures after two Iranian drones flew across its border and injured four people in the Nakhchivan exclave, raising concern about further spillover of the conflict in the Middle East.
“These attacks will not remain unanswered,” the Azerbaijani Defence Ministry said in a statement.
It added that it was investigating the types of drones used in the attack, and “preparing the necessary response measures to protect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the country and to ensure the safety of civilians and civilian infrastructure”.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi denied Tehran had targeted Nakhchivan.
“We do not attack our neighbouring countries,” he told Azerbaijani outlet AnewZ.
The Foreign Ministry earlier demanded that Iran “clarify the matter in the shortest possible time, provide an explanation and take the necessary urgent measures to prevent such incidents from recurring in the future”, adding that the incident “contributes to increased tensions in the region”.
It handed a note of protest to the Iranian ambassador to Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan and Iran already have tense relations over Baku’s growing economic, energy and military ties to NATO member Turkey and Israel, and the escalating U.S.–Iran war risks touching off violence between the neighbours.
Azerbaijan said one drone fell on the terminal building of the Nakhchivan International Airport, which is approximately 10 km (6 miles) across the border from Iran, and another drone landed close to a school building in a nearby village.
The four injured were taken to hospital, where they are in stable condition, the Health Ministry in the landlocked exclave of Azerbaijan bordering Armenia, Iran and Turkey told Reuters.
– Reuters
03/05/26 06:43Sri Lanka says it is trying to safeguard lives on second Iranian ship Open this photo in gallery:
Military personnel stand guard near Galle National Hospital, following a submarine attack on the Iranian military ship, IRIS Dena,off the coast of Sri Lanka, in Galle.Thilina Kaluthotage/Reuters
Sri Lanka said it was trying to “safeguard lives” on a second Iranian ship off its coast on Thursday, a day after 87 people were killed in a U.S. submarine strike on an Iranian warship in the same region.
Sri Lanka’s cabinet spokesman told parliament that various authorities were responding to the presence of an Iranian ship in Sri Lanka’s exclusive economic zone outside its maritime boundary near the port of Colombo.
“The President, defence officials, and all other relevant officials are aware and we are addressing the situation,” spokesman Nalinda Jayatissa said in response to questions from an opposition leader.
“We are doing our utmost to safeguard lives,” he said, without saying how, or whether the ship was a military vessel.
Jayatissa said the IRIS Dena was sunk on Wednesday 19 nautical miles off Sri Lanka’s southern port city of Galle and that two freezers had been dispatched from Colombo to store the 87 bodies recovered from the sea.
Tehran has asked Colombo to help repatriate the bodies, Sri Lanka’s deputy minister for health and mass media, Hansaka Wijemuni, told Reuters, adding that a timeframe had not yet been determined.
– Reuters
03/05/26 06:35Gold rises on safe-haven bid from Iran war
Gold prices rose on Thursday, lifted by safe-haven demand amid an escalating war in the Middle East, though a stronger dollar and concerns around the U.S. Federal Reserve’s monetary policy capped gains.
Spot gold was up 0.4 per cent at $5,156.11 per ounce as of 10:30 a.m. GMT (5:30 a.m. ET), while U.S. gold futures for April delivery were up 0.7 per cent at $5,168.20.
Gold, which hit a record $5,594.82 in January, initially jumped above $5,400 on Monday as the launch of the U.S.-Israeli air war against Iran sparked safe-haven demand, but pulled back from those highs as the dollar also benefited from a flight to safety.
“On the one hand, there may be greater safe-haven demand for gold given the ongoing conflict in the Middle East,” said Hamad Hussain, a climate and commodities economist at Capital Economics.
“On the other hand, the risk of a prolonged period of higher energy prices that takes rate cuts off the table, and adds to the chance of rate hikes, could be capping further gains.”
The U.S. dollar rose about 0.2 per cent after briefly retreating from three-month highs, as the fallout from the war roiled global markets and kept sentiment fragile.
Gold is considered a hedge against inflation in the long run, but also tends to thrive when interest rates are lower, as it is a non-yielding asset.
– Reuters
03/05/26 06:13Article Five not on the table despite Iran missile incident, NATO’s Rutte saysOpen this photo in gallery:
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte reacts during a one-on-one interview with Reuters on the Iran crisis and Ukraine war in Brussels, Belgium on Thursday.Yves Herman/Reuters
NATO is vigilant about events in the Middle East and the shooting-down of a missile headed for Turkish airspace on Wednesday, but invoking Article Five is not on the table right now, the military alliance’s chief Mark Rutte told Reuters on Thursday.
“Nobody’s talking about Article Five,” Rutte said in an interview.
Turkey said NATO air defences destroyed an Iranian ballistic missile headed into Turkish airspace, marking the first time the alliance member has been drawn into the Middle East conflict and raising the possibility of a major expansion involving its bloc allies.
The alliance’s Article Five specifies that an attack on one of its members is an attack on all the others.
Rutte said NATO supports the United States in its strikes against Iran as the country was “close to becoming a threat to Europe as well.”
– Reuters
03/05/26 06:10U.S. House to vote on war powers resolution after Senate backs Trump on Iran strikes
The House is preparing to vote Thursday on a war powers resolution to halt President Donald Trump’s attack on Iran, a sign of unease in Congress over the rapidly widening conflict that is reordering U.S. priorities at home and abroad.
It’s the second vote in as many days, after the Senate defeated a similar measure along party lines. Lawmakers are confronting the sudden reality of representing the American people in wartime and all that entails – with lives lost, dollars spent and alliances tested by a president’s unilateral decision to go to war with Iran.
The tally in the House is expected to be tight, but the outcome will provide an early snapshot of the political support, or opposition, to the U.S.-Israel military operation and Trump’s rationale for bypassing Congress, which alone has the power to declare war.
“Donald Trump is not a king, and if he believes the war with Iran is in our national interest, then he must come to Congress and make the case,” said Rep. Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Trump’s Republican Party, which narrowly controls the House and Senate, largely sees the conflict with Iran not as the start of a new war, but the end of a regime that for decades has long menaced the West. The operation has killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which some view as an opportunity for regime change, though others warn of a chaotic power vacuum.
For Democrats, Trump’s war with Iran, influenced by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is a war of choice that is testing the balance of powers in the U.S. Constitution.
03/05/26 06:00Tanker attack in the northern Persian Gulf boosts oil and gas prices, signals Iran war is widening
– Eric Reguly
Photo illustration of an Iranian flag overlayed with a rising price graph and 3D printed gas pump miniature.Dado Ruvic/Reuters
A crude oil tanker was hit in the northern reaches of the Persian Gulf, marking the first time a ship was attacked beyond the Strait of Hormuz area and sending the message that Iran is not ready to capitulate.
The attack on the tanker was reported by various sources.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said it had hit a vessel in the northern Gulf. At about the same time, the U.K Maritime Trade Operations Centre reported “a large explosion” on the port side of a tanker at anchor, near Kuwait, and that the vessel had taken on water.
The centre did not identify the ship, though some reports said it was the Sonangol Namibe, a large oil tanker registered in the Bahamas. The VesselFinder site reported a ship of the same name and flag in the northern Gulf. The ship was not loaded with oil at the time and there were no injuries, reports said.
In London trading early on Thursday, the news of the tanker attack sent Brent crude up by 3 per cent. Later in the morning, the price settled back to gain 2 per cent over Wednesday’s close at US$83 a barrel. Brent was below US$60 in late December.
European natural gas prices climbed about 12 per cent on Thursday, taking the weekly gain to 70 per cent. They had fallen yesterday but resumed their upward course today as it became apparent that Hormuz, the narrow channel that separates the Gulf from the Indian Ocean, through which 20 per cent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) passes, probably will not reopen soon.
Both London’s FTSE-100 and Germany’s DAX stock indexes were up marginally in Thursday morning trading after fairly steep falls earlier in the week.
In a note published early Thursday, ING Economics said that investors are taking the view that the war in Iran, which began on Saturday with Israeli and U.S. airstrikes throughout the country, could rattle the markets for some time.
03/05/26 05:58World shares advance as oil prices climb higher and Iran launches new attacks
World shares advanced Thursday, while U.S. futures slipped as Iran launched more missiles at Israel on the sixth day of the war in the Middle East.
The future for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2 per cent. The S&P 500 future was down 0.1 per ce t.
Uncertainty about the war in the Middle East has been rattling financial markets, with most taking their cues from what the price of oil is doing.
“Yesterday’s bounce in risk assets already looks less like a turning point and more like a classic relief rally in a market that briefly inhaled before realizing the room was still on fire,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.
Crude prices climbed early Thursday, with Brent, the international standard, gaining 1.8 per cent to $82.87 per barrel. U.S. benchmark crude jumped 2.1 per cent to $76.31 per barrel.
In Germany, the DAX regained lost ground, rising 0.2 per cent to 24,253.24, while the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.3 per cent to 8,194.80. Britain’s FTSE 100 added 0.4 per cent to 10,609.63.
In Asian trading, South Korea’s Kospi took back much of its historic losses from a day earlier, jumping 9.6 per cent to 5,583.90. It had gained as much as 12 per cent earlier in the day as investors hunted bargains, triggering temporary trading halts.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index gave back some early gains, closing 1.9 per cent higher at 55,278.06.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng climbed 0.3 per cent to 25,321.34 after Chinese Premier Li Qiang opened the annual session of the National People’s Congress with a report that set the annual target for economic growth this year at 4.5 per cent to 5 per cent.
The Shanghai Composite index gained 0.6 per cent to 4,108.57.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.4 per cent to 8,940.30, while New Zealand’s benchmark rose 0.6 per cent.
Taiwan’s main share index gained 2.6 per cent.
– The Associated Press
03/05/26 05:24Gulf countries concerned about risk of Iran civil war, says EU’s foreign chief
Countries in the Middle East have told European officials they are concerned about the risk of civil war in Iran as a result of the conflict between Tehran and the United States and Israel, EU foreign chief Kaja Kallas said on Thursday.
“When we talk to the countries in the region, they are also worried about civil wars inside Iran because of the regime’s leadership and what is going on there,” she said ahead of a video conference with EU foreign ministers and representatives of the Gulf Cooperation Council on the situation in Iran and the broader Middle East.
The EU wants to push forward a diplomatic solution. “Wars really end in diplomacy and there has to be room for diplomacy here to really get out of this cycle of escalation,” she told reporters.
The EU is “extremely worried” about maritime security in the region and that it is trying to keep routes such as the Strait of Hormuz open, she said although, since the EU was not dependent on oil from Gulf states, the attacks there did not have a large short-term impact on the security of the supply of oil to the EU.
– Reuters
03/05/26 05:22Iran launches missiles at Israel, U.S. bases as new Israeli strikes hit Lebanon
Iran launched a new wave of attacks Thursday morning at Israel, American bases and countries around the region, threatening that the United States would “bitterly regret” torpedoing an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean and calling for “Trump’s blood,” while Israel said it hit multiple targets in Iran.
Israel announced multiple incoming missile attacks and air sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Iranian state television said additional strikes also targeted U.S. bases.
The Israeli military said it had hit 80 targets in Lebanon linked to the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group over the past 24 hours and that a wave of strikes on Iran had hit long range ballistic missile launch sites and other targets.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused the U.S. Navy of committing an “an atrocity at sea” for sinking the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena in the Indian Ocean, which killed at least 87 Iranian sailors.
“Mark my words: The U.S. will come to bitterly regret (the) precedent it has set,” he said on social media.
Ayatollah Abdollah Javadi Amoli, in one of the few clerical statements so far from Iran, later called on state television for the shedding of both Israeli and “Trump’s blood.”
“Fight the oppressive America, his blood is on my shoulders,’” he said in a rare call for violence from an ayatollah, one of the highest ranks within the clergy of Shiite Islam.
– The Associated Press
03/04/26 21:04Carney won’t ‘rule out’ Canadian military involvement in Middle East
– Steven Chase
Carney and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese took questions outside Australia’s Parliament in Canberra on Thursday.Hilary Wardhaugh/Getty Images
Prime Minister Mark Carney has left the door open to Canadian military participation in the widening Mideast conflict if circumstances warrant.
Carney, who has already said Canada has no plans to join the U.S. and Israel attacks on Iran, was asked Thursday in Australia if he could categorically rule out deploying military assets to the region.
He said Canada would always stand by its allies and would act to protect Canadians.
“You’ve asked a fundamental hypothetical in a conflict that can spread very broadly. Recent events point to that,” Carney told reporters during a press conference with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Canberra.
“So one can never categorically rule out participation,” he said. “We will stand by our allies. That makes sense.”
03/04/26 19:04Anand says charter evacuation flights expected to leave UAE within 72 hours
– Marie Woolf
Ottawa is arranging charter flights and booking hundreds more seats on commercial airlines to help more than 2,000 Canadians stranded in Middle East and Gulf states who have asked the federal government for help to leave the region.
At a press conference in Ottawa, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said she expects charter flights to leave the United Arab Emirates in the next 72 hours.
A further 200 seats on commercial flights have been block-booked to help Canadians in Lebanon flee in the next three days.
Today, a flight left Beirut with 75 seats booked by the Canadian government. Most were filled with Canadians and the spare ones were offered by Canada to Britain and Australia. The countries have a reciprocal agreement to help each other’s citizens evacuate.
In Qatar, where the airspace is closed, Canadians were being bussed to neighbouring Saudi Arabia, with more land transportation being planned.
03/04/26 18:16Fighting in Lebanon expands to areas that are not traditional Hezbollah strongholds
– Mark MacKinnon
A man sits on the rubble of a building that was targeted by an Israeli airstrike in the southern Lebanese coastal city of Sidon on Tuesday.MAHMOUD ZAYYAT/AFP/Getty Images
Mustafa Taha didn’t pick the first three calls from the foreign number that kept ringing his mobile phone Tuesday evening. It was almost time to break the day-long Ramadan fast, and he was too hungry and distracted to have a conversation with a stranger.
On the fourth call, Mr. Taha picked up and heard a recorded voice telling him in Arabic that he should immediately flee his home. He did, along with his wife and two children, just minutes before an Israeli missile slammed into the five-storey apartment building where they had lived for the past 16 years.
“I didn’t have time to take anything with me – just my family. I couldn’t grab my money, my documents, anything,” the 49-year-old electrician said today, as smoke continued to rise from the rubble of the apartment building in Sidon, a city that until Tuesday was considered a relatively safe space in the widening war for the Middle East.
The first two air strikes to hit Sidon marked the latest expansion of Israel’s campaign against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia, a conflict that is just one front in what is now a regional war. The strikes were among the first major attacks beyond the traditional Hezbollah strongholds of southern Lebanon, near the Israeli border, and the southern suburbs of Beirut.
03/05/26 06:00Are you a Canadian traveller affected by what’s happening in the Middle East?
Are you a tourist or business traveller whose plans have been affected by the conflict in the Middle East? Have you been dealing with travel delays or suspended flights? Share your story below for a future Globe story, or e-mail audience@globeandmail.com. If you’d like to submit a photo, use this link.
Have your travel plans been impacted by the Middle East war?
Are you a tourist or business traveller whose plans have been affected by the conflict in the Middle East? Have you been dealing with travel delays and suspended flights? Share your story below.