{"id":342316,"date":"2026-03-12T11:51:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T11:51:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/342316\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T11:51:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T11:51:16","slug":"us-responsible-for-school-missile-strike-investigation-finds-israel-to-expand-operations-in-lebanon-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/342316\/","title":{"rendered":"US responsible for school missile strike, investigation finds; Israel to expand operations in Lebanon \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Main PointsThe US and Israel kept up their pounding of targets across Iran on WednesdayUS forces say they have struck more than 5,500 targets inside Iran, including over 60 naval shipsIran says more than 1,200 people have been killedIran said the world should prepare for soaring energy prices as its forces hit merchant shipsPassengers travelling on a second Government-chartered flight from the Gulf region arrived safe and sound in Dublin on Wednesday nightKey Reads<\/p>\n

Sarah Burns – 15 minutes ago<\/p>\n

Thailand\u2019s foreign ministry has demanded an \u200capology from Iran over damage \u200bcaused to a Thai vessel that was hit by \u200ba projectile in the \u2060Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, \u200cwhich \u200cled \u200bto a fire and forced \u2060the \u200bcrew to abandon \u200bship.<\/p>\n

The ministry said \u200cit was seeking clarity \u200bfrom Iran\u2019s ambassador on \u2060Thursday on \u2060the \u200bfacts surrounding the incident.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guards said in a statement carried by the Tasnim news \u200cagency that \u2060the ship was \u201cfired upon by Iranian fighters\u201d.<\/p>\n

Sarah Burns – 33 minutes ago<\/p>\n

More than three million displaced since Iran conflict began, says UN agency <\/p>\n

Up to 3.2 million \u200bpeople have been displaced \u2060inside Iran since \u200cthe \u200cconflict \u200bbegan on February \u206028th, the United Nations refugee agency has said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis \u200bfigure is \u200blikely \u200cto continue rising \u200bas hostilities persist, marking \u2060a \u2060worrying \u200bescalation in humanitarian needs,\u201d UNHCR said in a statement, \u200cciting preliminary \u2060assessments based on the number \u200cof uprooted households.<\/p>\n

\"SistersSisters play near their family\u2019s tent inside the Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium, which is occupied by displaced people, in Beirut, Lebanon, on Wednesday. Photograph: David Guttenfelder\/The New York Times<\/p>\n

Sarah Burns – 39 minutes ago<\/p>\n

Russia calls on Israel and US to end their attacks on Iran <\/p>\n

Russia has called on Israel and \u200bthe United States to end \u200btheir attacks \u2060on Iran and come \u200cto \u200cthe \u200bnegotiating table.<\/p>\n

Russian \u2060foreign \u200bministry spokeswoman \u200bMaria Zakharova \u200csaid the humanitarian situation \u200bin the \u2060region \u2060was \u200bextremely difficult and the escalation of the conflict was \u200ccause for \u2060deep concern.<\/p>\n

Sarah Burns – 50 minutes ago<\/p>\n

Israel to expand operations in Lebanon, defence minister says<\/p>\n

The \u2060Israeli military has been instructed to expand its operations in Lebanon, defence minister Israel \u200cKatz \u2060said, after Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel \u200covernight.<\/p>\n

Katz warned Lebanese \u2060president Joseph \u200cAoun that if the Lebanese government \u2060could \u200cnot prevent Hezbollah from attacking Israel, it would \u201c\u2060do it ourselves\u201d, according \u2060to a statement released by his office.<\/p>\n

\"MunicipalityMunicipality workers assess the damage in the aftermath of overnight Israeli airstrikes in the southern Lebanese coastal city of Tyre on Thursday. Photograph: Kawnat Haju\/AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n

Sarah Burns – 55 minutes ago<\/p>\n

Australia \u200chas told \u201cnon-essential\u201d diplomats \u200bto leave Israel \u200band the United \u2060Arab Emirates, its foreign \u200cminister \u200cPenny \u200bWong said \u2060on \u200bThursday.<\/p>\n

Essential \u200bofficials would \u200cremain in \u200bboth Israel \u2060and \u2060the \u200bUAE to support Australian citizens who need \u200cit, Wong \u2060said on X. <\/p>\n

Beirut\u2019s new reality: Sudden air strikes, shattered homes and a surge in the displaced. Video: Sally Hayden US was responsible formissile strike on elementary school, investigation finds<\/p>\n

An ongoing military investigation has determined that the\u00a0United States\u00a0is responsible for a deadly Tomahawk missile strike\u00a0on an Iranian elementary school, according to US officials and others familiar with the preliminary findings.<\/p>\n

The February 28th strike on the Shajarah Tayyebeh primary school building was the result of a targeting mistake by the US military, which was conducting strikes on an adjacent Iranian base of which the school building was formerly a part, the preliminary investigation found.<\/p>\n

Officers at US Central Command created the target co-ordinates for the strike using outdated data provided by the Defense Intelligence Agency, people briefed on the investigation said.<\/p>\n

Officials emphasised that the findings are preliminary and that there are important unanswered questions about why the outdated information had not been double checked.<\/p>\n

Iranian officials have said the death toll was at least 175 people, most of them children.<\/p>\n

\"AA government handout photograph showed weapon remnants displayed on a table near the ruins of the Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school, where a precision strike killed 175 people, mostly children, on February 28th. Middle East conflict creating largest supply disruption in history of global oil market <\/p>\n

The Iran war is causing unprecedented turmoil in oil markets, hitting 7.5 per cent of global supply and an even bigger swath of exports, the International Energy Agency has said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe war in the Middle East is creating the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market,\u201d the IEA said in its monthly report on Thursday. <\/p>\n

The previous day, its members agreed to release an unprecedented 400 million barrels from emergency reserves in a bid to calm the market.<\/p>\n

\"AA plume of smoke rises after a reported Iranian strike on fuel tanks in Muharraq on Thursday. Photograph: Fadhel Madhan\/AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n

Sarah Burns – 2 hours ago<\/p>\n

US and Israeli officials have said their aim is to end Iran\u2019s ability to project force beyond its borders and destroy its nuclear programme.<\/p>\n

Trump and other officials have sent mixed messages about whether regime change was another goal after supreme leader ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in initial strikes and replaced by his son Mojtaba Khamenei, who an Iranian official said was lightly wounded.<\/p>\n

US intelligence indicates that Iran\u2019s leadership is still largely intact \u200cand is not at risk of collapse any time soon, according to sources familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n

ABC News said the Federal Bureau of Investigation had warned of Iranian drones potentially striking the US west coast, although Trump said he was not worried that Iran might launch strikes on US soil.<\/p>\n

The US state department also warned that Iran and aligned militias may be planning to target US-owned oil and energy infrastructure in Iraq and warned that militias had in the past targeted hotels frequented by Americans.<\/p>\n

The US military told Iranians to stay clear of ports with Iranian navy facilities, drawing a warning from Iran\u2019s military that if the ports were threatened, economic and trade centres in the region would be \u201clegitimate targets\u201d. <\/p>\n

\"USUS president Donald Trump delivers remarks at Verst Logistics in Hebron on Wednesday. Photograph: Doug Mills\/The New York Times <\/p>\n

Sarah Burns – 2 hours ago<\/p>\n

Hours after an Israeli air strike hit central Beirut without warning, shards of glass were still raining on to the street below, settling on a line of mangled, dust\u2011coated cars, writes Sally Hayden. <\/p>\n

Locals stared upwards at the damage, some still in shock that their neighbourhood had been hit. This area, Aisha Bakkar, is outside of the evacuation zones which now cover huge swathes of greater Beirut.<\/p>\n

The attack on Wednesday seemingly targeted one or two apartments in a residential building in a strike which injured four people, said Lebanon\u2019s health ministry. Locals said they did not know who was targeted. <\/p>\n

Read her full piece from Beirut here<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\"TheThe site of an overnight Israeli airstrike in Aisha Bakkar, central Beirut. Photograph: Sally Hayden\/The Irish Times <\/p>\n

Sarah Burns – 2 hours ago<\/p>\n

Iran also targeted fuel tanks at a facility in Bahrain\u2019s Muharraq, the interior ministry said, while drones struck oil storage facilities at Salalah port on Wednesday, Oman\u2019s state news agency reported. Saudi Arabia said it had also intercepted several drones heading towards its Shaybah oilfield on Thursday.<\/p>\n

So far there has been no sign that ships can safely sail through the Strait of Hormuz, the now-blockaded channel along the Iranian coast that serves as a conduit for around a fifth of the world\u2019s oil.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, an Iranian military spokesperson said the Strait was \u201cundoubtedly\u201d under Iran\u2019s control and the G7 group of nations – the United States, Canada, Japan, Italy, Britain, Germany and France – agreed to examine the option of providing escort for ships so they can navigate freely in the Gulf.<\/p>\n

Trump said US forces had knocked out 58 Iranian naval ships and that Iran was \u201cpretty much at the end of the line.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the US would now \u201clook very strongly\u201d at the Strait of Hormuz, adding: \u201cThe straits are in great shape. We\u2019ve knocked out all of their boats. They have some missiles, but not very many.\u201d Trump said earlier ships \u201cshould\u201d transit through the strait but sources said Iran had deployed about a dozen mines in the channel, further complicating the blockade.<\/p>\n

Iranian weapons also struck elsewhere in the Gulf, with Kuwait reporting a drone hit a building in the south injuring two, while Dubai authorities responded to a drone that fell on a building near the vicinity of Dubai Creek Harbour.<\/p>\n

Another container vessel reported being struck by an unknown projectile near the United Arab \u200cEmirates on Thursday, a maritime security authority said.<\/p>\n

Sarah Burns – 3 hours ago<\/p>\n

\u2018Get ready for oil to be $200 a barrel\u2019, says Iran <\/p>\n

At a campaign-style rally in Kentucky ahead of November midterm elections in which his Republican party is trailing badly, US president Donald Trump said the United States had won the war but didn\u2019t want to have to go back every two years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want to leave early do we?\u201d he said on Wednesday. \u201cWe got to finish the job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iran has made clear it intends to impose a prolonged economic shock, with the spokesperson for Iran\u2019s military command saying in remarks directed at the US on Wednesday: \u201cGet ready for oil to be $200 a barrel, because the oil price depends on regional security, which you have destabilised.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oil prices, which shot up earlier in the week to nearly $120 a barrel before retreating, jumped almost 10 per cent back above $100 a barrel in Asian trade on Thursday amid renewed fears about supply disruption. Wall Street\u2019s main share indexes fell and stocks in Asia followed \u200csuit.<\/p>\n

Iranian \u200cexplosive-laden boats appear to have attacked two fuel tankers in Iraqi waters setting them ablaze and killing one crew member after projectiles struck three merchant vessels in Gulf waters, port officials, maritime security and risk firms said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis appears to mark a direct and forceful Iranian response to the IEA\u2019s overnight announcement of a massive strategic reserve release aimed at cooling runaway prices,\u201d said Tony Sycamore, analyst at IG.<\/p>\n

The International Energy Agency, made up of major oil consuming nations, on Wednesday recommended releasing 400 million barrels from global strategic reserves to dampen one of the worst oil shocks since the 1970s, the biggest such intervention in history.<\/p>\n

Trump said the IEA decision \u201cwill substantially reduce oil prices as we end this threat to America and the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

US energy secretary Chris Wright said Trump had authorised the release of 172 million barrels from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve \u200cfrom next week.<\/p>\n

\"AA plume of smoke rises after a reported Iranian strike on fuel tanks in Muharraq on Wednesday. Photograph: Fadhel Madhan\/AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n

Sarah Burns – 3 hours ago<\/p>\n

Two tankers ablaze in Iraqi waters <\/p>\n

Two tankers were ablaze in Iraqi waters on Thursday after what appeared to be Iranian strikes, the latest wave of attacks on oil and transport facilities across the Middle East, as \u200cIran warned the world should be ready for oil to hit $200 a barrel.<\/p>\n

Unleashed with joint US and Israeli air strikes on Iran almost two weeks ago, the war has so far killed about 2,000 people and thrown global energy markets and transport into chaos. <\/p>\n

The conflict has spread across the Middle East and prompted plans for a record release of strategic oil reserves to dampen one of the worst fuel shocks since the 1970s.<\/p>\n

The United Nations Children\u2019s Fund (Unicef) said more than 1,100 children had been killed or injured.<\/p>\n

\"AA petrol vendor pumps petrol from Iranian fuel oil tankers for resale near the Bashmagh border crossing on Wednesday. Photograph: Ozan Kose\/AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n

Sarah Burns – 3 hours ago<\/p>\n

In the US, more than 40 Democratic senators have urged defence secretary Pete Hegseth to provide answers on the air strike on a girls\u2019 primary school on the opening day of the war and hold those responsible to account. Iran has blamed the US for the attack, in which at least 175 people, mainly schoolgirls, were reportedly killed, saying video and satellite images show a US Tomahawk missile hit the structure.<\/p>\n

A preliminary investigation by US authorities has found that the strike was the result of outdated target co-ordinates used by the US military, according to a New York Times report. US president Donald Trump, however, has said it was \u201cdone by Iran\u201d, without offering evidence.<\/p>\n

\"PresidentPresident Donald Trump watches as defence secretary Pete Hegseth speaks to attendees at the Shield of the Americas Summit, held at Trump\u2019s golf resort in Miami on Saturday. Photograph: Tierney L. Cross\/The New York Times<\/p>\n

Sarah Burns – 4 hours ago<\/p>\n

The US and Israel kept up their pounding of targets across Iran on Wednesday. US forces say they have struck more than 5,500 targets inside Iran, including over 60 naval ships. Iran says more than 1,200 people have been killed.<\/p>\n

A large funeral ceremony took place in Tehran\u2019s Revolution Square for senior Iranian officials killed in the opening strike of the war, including the armed forces chief and head of the Revolutionary Guard. Thousands attended, waving the national flag and shouting \u201cDeath to America\u201d in a show of support for the regime.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Iran confirmed that Mojtaba Khamenei, the country\u2019s new supreme leader, had been \u201clightly injured\u201d in an air strike but was still active, even though he hasn\u2019t made a public statement since his appointment earlier this week.<\/p>\n

\"TrucksTrucks carry coffins during a funeral ceremony for high-ranking military officials killed by US-Israeli airstrikes in Tehran, on Wednesday. Photograph: Arash Khamooshi\/The New York Times<\/p>\n

Sarah Burns – 4 hours ago<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, there were scenes of joy and relief at Dublin Airport<\/a> on Wednesday night as passengers travelling on a second Government-chartered flight from the Gulf region arrived safe and sound.<\/p>\n

The flight, which took off from Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), helped to bring back some of the Irish citizens who became stranded as a result of the regional conflict sparked by US-Israeli strikes on Iran.<\/p>\n

Many of those who disembarked had praise for the Irish Embassy in the UAE for keeping them informed and also for the efforts of Emirati authorities in terms of providing safety updates and intercepting Iranian drones.<\/p>\n

\"PassengersPassengers are welcomed by family members as they arrive at Dublin Airport following an Irish Government chartered flight from Oman, which stopped at Cairo, before touching down in Dublin in the early hours of Sunday. Photograph: Evan Treacy\/PA Wire <\/p>\n

Sarah Burns – 4 hours ago<\/p>\n

Iran\u00a0said the world should prepare for soaring energy prices as its forces hit merchant ships and the International Energy Agency recommends a large release of strategic reserves to dampen one of the worst oil shocks since the \u200b1970s.<\/p>\n

Three commercial ships were hit by projectiles in the Strait of Hormuz and Iran launched fresh strikes against its oil-exporting neighbours, warning that crude oil prices could rise to $200 a barrel.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny vessel whose oil cargo or the vessel itself belongs to the\u00a0United States, the Zionist regime or their hostile allies will be considered legitimate targets,\u201d the Iranian military said.<\/p>\n

Read the full piece here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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