{"id":327842,"date":"2026-03-08T05:19:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T05:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/327842\/"},"modified":"2026-03-08T05:19:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T05:19:09","slug":"israel-renews-assault-on-lebanon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/327842\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel renews assault on Lebanon"},"content":{"rendered":"

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) \u2014 Israel renewed its assault on southern Lebanon early Sunday, including targeting commanders of the Lebanese branch of Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guards\u2019 Quds Force, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu<\/a> promised \u201cmany surprises\u201d for the next phase of the conflict<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Israeli military said in a statement that it would \u201cnot allow Iranian terrorist elements to establish themselves in Lebanese territory.\u201d<\/p>\n

The latest strikes in Lebanon followed an Israeli attack Saturday on an oil storage facility in Tehran<\/a>, which sent up pillars of fire that could be seen in Associated Press video as a glow against the night sky.<\/p>\n

It appeared to be the first time a civil industrial facility has been targeted in the war. State media blamed \u201can attack from the U.S. and the Zionist regime\u201d at the site that supplies the capital and neighboring provinces in the north.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Kuwait authorities said two border guards were killed when the Gulf country was hit by a swarm of missiles and drones. The Interior Ministry said only that the guards were killed \u201cwhile performing their national duty.\u201d No other details were available.<\/p>\n

Israeli airstrikes killed eight people in southern Lebanon, the Lebanese Health Ministry said, and local media reported that an Israeli drone hit a hotel in Beirut, killing four and wounding 10 others. The deaths come on top of at least 47 others killed Saturday in Israeli strikes.<\/p>\n

Iranian president apologizes for attacks<\/p>\n

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian apologized Saturday for attacks on \u201cneighboring countries,\u201d<\/a> even as his country\u2019s missiles and drones flew toward Gulf Arab states and hard-liners asserted that Tehran\u2019s war strategy would not change.<\/p>\n

A rift between politicians looking to de-escalate the war and others committed to battling the United States and Israel could complicate any diplomatic efforts. Conflicting Iranian statements came from two of the three members of the leadership council overseeing Iran since Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei<\/a> was killed in the war\u2019s opening airstrikes.<\/p>\n

Pezeshkian, who is a member of the council, also dismissed U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s call for Tehran to surrender unconditionally, saying: \u201cThat\u2019s a dream that they should take to their grave.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump threatened that Iran would be \u201chit very hard\u201d and more \u201careas and groups of people\u201d would become targets, without elaborating. Already, the conflict has rattled global markets<\/a> and left Iran\u2019s leadership<\/a> weakened by hundreds of Israeli and American airstrikes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not looking to settle,\u201d Trump told reporters Saturday aboard Air Force One. \u201cThey\u2019d like to settle. We\u2019re not looking to settle.\u201d<\/p>\n

He described the ongoing U.S. operations in Iran as an \u201cexcursion\u201d and said issues such as rising gas prices and the safety of Americans would improve once the conflict ends.<\/p>\n

Iranian leaders have limited power over Revolutionary Guard<\/p>\n

Pezeshkian\u2019s message underlined the limited powers exercised by the theocracy\u2019s leaders over the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard<\/a>, which controls the hundreds of ballistic missiles targeting Israel and other countries. It answered only to Khamenei and appears to be picking its own targets.<\/p>\n

Pezeshkian\u2019s statement said Iran\u2019s leadership council had been in touch with the armed forces and \u201cfrom now on, they should not attack neighboring countries or fire missiles at them, unless we are attacked by those countries. I think we should solve this through diplomacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The U.S. strikes have not come from the Gulf Arab governments under attack, but from U.S. bases and vessels in the region.<\/p>\n

Hard-line judiciary chief Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, another member of the three-man leadership council, suggested that war strategy will not change.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe geography of some countries in the region \u2014 both overtly and covertly \u2014 is in the hands of the enemy, and those points are used against our country in acts of aggression. Intense attacks on these targets will continue,\u201d he posted on X.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s U.N. mission later suggested, without offering evidence, that strikes on nonmilitary sites \u201cmay have resulted from interception by U.S. electronic defense systems.\u201d<\/p>\n

Late Saturday, top Iranian security official Ali Larijani asserted in an address carried by state media that \u201cour leaders are united on this issue and have no disagreements with one another.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump says the Kurds won\u2019t be involved<\/p>\n

In other developments, Trump said he has ruled out having Kurds join the war<\/a>, even though Kurdish fighters in the region are willing to assist in efforts to topple the Iranian government.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe war is complicated enough without having … the Kurds involved,\u201d Trump told reporters.<\/p>\n

Days ago, Kurdish officials told the AP that Kurdish-Iranian dissident groups based in northern Iraq were preparing for a potential cross-border military operation<\/a> in Iran and that the U.S. had asked Iraqi Kurds to support them.<\/p>\n

The U.S. and Israel have targeted Iran\u2019s military capabilities, leadership and nuclear program. The war\u2019s stated goals and timelines have repeatedly shifted<\/a> as the U.S. has at times suggested it seeks to topple Iran\u2019s government or elevate new leadership<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The fighting has killed at least 1,230 people in Iran, more than 290 in Lebanon<\/a> and 11 in Israel, according to officials in those countries. Six U.S. troops<\/a> have been killed.<\/p>\n

Missile lands at US Embassy compound in Iraq<\/p>\n

Three Iraqi security officials said a missile landed on the helicopter landing pad in the U.S. Embassy complex in Baghdad. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly. An embassy spokesperson declined to comment. There were no reports of casualties.<\/p>\n

It was the first reported strike to land in Baghdad\u2019s heavily fortified Green Zone<\/a> since the Iran war began. Iran and allied Iraqi militias have launched dozens of attacks on U.S. military bases and other facilities in Iraq since then.<\/p>\n

Iraq\u2019s caretaker Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani called the embassy attack a \u201cterrorist act\u201d carried out by \u201crogue groups.\u201d<\/p>\n

Strikes target other Gulf countries<\/p>\n

Hours after Pezeshkian\u2019s apology, the United Arab Emirates said debris from an aerial interception fell onto a vehicle and killed a driver. Four people have now been killed in the UAE since the war began. Authorities have said all were foreign nationals.<\/p>\n

Sirens sounded earlier Saturday in Bahrain<\/a> as Iran targeted the island kingdom. Saudi Arabia<\/a> said it destroyed drones headed toward its vast Shaybah oil field and shot down a ballistic missile launched toward Prince Sultan Air Base, which hosts U.S. forces<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In Kuwait, authorities said a wave of drones targeted critical infrastructure, including fuel tanks at Kuwait International Airport and a government building in Kuwait City. At least two people were killed by strikes in Iraq\u2019s semi-autonomous Kurdish region.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Mednick reported from Tel Aviv, Israel, and Magdy from Cairo, Egypt. Associated Press journalists Bassem Mroue in Beirut, Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad, Amir-Hussein Radjy in Cairo, Melanie Lidman in Jerusalem, Natalie Melzer in Nahariya, Israel, and Aamer Madhani in Doral, Florida, contributed reporting. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) \u2014 Israel renewed its assault on southern Lebanon early Sunday, including targeting commanders…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":327843,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[105611,91926,49,114,54,84880,122,85,87,20889,117780,46,1984,6606,29157,2034,8715,161958,43,140127,238,7319,121,12526,126],"class_list":{"0":"post-327842","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israel","8":"tag-ali-khamenei","9":"tag-ali-larijani","10":"tag-benjamin-netanyahu","11":"tag-business","12":"tag-donald-trump","13":"tag-drone-surveillance-and-warfare","14":"tag-general-news","15":"tag-il","16":"tag-iran","17":"tag-iran-government","18":"tag-iran-war","19":"tag-israel","20":"tag-israel-government","21":"tag-kuwait","22":"tag-masoud-pezeshkian","23":"tag-mideast-wars","24":"tag-military-technology","25":"tag-mohammed-shia-al-sudani","26":"tag-news","27":"tag-persian-gulf","28":"tag-politics","29":"tag-religion","30":"tag-war-and-unrest","31":"tag-washington-news","32":"tag-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327842\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/327843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}