Israel keeps up Lebanon strikes as ground forces advance
Israeli attacks on Lebanon have entered a fourth day after Israeli forces pushed into several border towns and conducted air strikes targeting Hezbollah.
AFPTV footage showed smoke rising after a strike hit the Iran-backed militant group’s stronghold of southern Beirut early on Thursday.
Israel’s military earlier told residents to leave the suburb where the strike hit, warning it was about to attack a target it said was linked to Hezbollah.
Smoke rises from a building damaged during strikes in Beirut on Thursday, in a screengrab from social media. Photograph: Obtained by Reuters
Agence France-Presse also reports that in Israel’s north near the border, repeated air raid alerts sent residents to shelters in several locations, with no immediate reports of impact or casualties.
Hezbollah’s leader vowed on Wednesday to keep up its fight against Israel and step up attacks, saying the group had targeted Israeli positions as far as Tel Aviv in at least 15 attacks.
“We are facing aggression… our choice is to confront it until the ultimate sacrifice, and we will not surrender,” Naim Qassem declared in his first speech since the latest fighting broke out. “For us this is an existential defence.”
Updated at 22.30 EST
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Updated at 23.09 EST
Israel says no casualties reported after Iran missile launches
Iran launched several rounds of missiles at Israel early on Thursday, the Israeli military said, triggering alerts in several areas and explosions heard in Jerusalem.
There were no immediate reports of casualties, the AFP report said.
After a lull of more than seven hours, Israel’s military issued three separate alerts warning of Iranian missile fire in under two hours.
Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB also reported the launches.
Explosions were heard in Jerusalem after the third reported launch.
But Israel’s emergency services, the Magen David Adom, said it had received no reports of casualties after early Thursday’s rocket fire, and the military had cleared people to leave their shelters.
On Wednesday, the military’s Home Front Command had said it would ease some war-related restrictions effective midday Thursday, citing a decline in the number of missiles fired by Iran.
Israeli air defences intercept projectiles over Jerusalem on Wednesday. Photograph: Abir Sultan/EPAShare
Updated at 22.49 EST
Abené Clayton
The Pentagon has released the names of the final two of the six soldiers who were killed during a recent drone strike in Kuwait.
The two soldiers were identified as Chief Warrant Officer Robert Marzan, 54, and Maj Jeffrey O’Brien, 45. They were from Sacramento, California, and Indianola, Iowa, respectively.
They were killed on Sunday, the day after the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran. Their names were released by the US Department of Defence on Wednesday.
O’Brien had earned several awards and decorations during his time in service, the defence department said.
The US army reserve said it would investigate the incident that led to their deaths and those of Capt Cody Khork, 35; Sgt Nicole Amor, 39; Sgt Declan Coady, 20; and Sgt Noah Tietjens, 42, who were identified on Tuesday.
The Pentagon said Marzan was at the scene when a drone strike hit the command centre in Kuwait and was “believed to be the individual who perished at the scene”. A medical examiner would confirm identification.
See the full story here:
ShareIsrael keeps up Lebanon strikes as ground forces advance
Israeli attacks on Lebanon have entered a fourth day after Israeli forces pushed into several border towns and conducted air strikes targeting Hezbollah.
AFPTV footage showed smoke rising after a strike hit the Iran-backed militant group’s stronghold of southern Beirut early on Thursday.
Israel’s military earlier told residents to leave the suburb where the strike hit, warning it was about to attack a target it said was linked to Hezbollah.
Smoke rises from a building damaged during strikes in Beirut on Thursday, in a screengrab from social media. Photograph: Obtained by Reuters
Agence France-Presse also reports that in Israel’s north near the border, repeated air raid alerts sent residents to shelters in several locations, with no immediate reports of impact or casualties.
Hezbollah’s leader vowed on Wednesday to keep up its fight against Israel and step up attacks, saying the group had targeted Israeli positions as far as Tel Aviv in at least 15 attacks.
“We are facing aggression… our choice is to confront it until the ultimate sacrifice, and we will not surrender,” Naim Qassem declared in his first speech since the latest fighting broke out. “For us this is an existential defence.”
Updated at 22.30 EST
Carney doesn’t rule out Canada participating in war
Krishani Dhanji
Mark Carney won’t rule out Canadian participation in military action but has made a distinction between offence and defence.
Responding to a question on whether he would rule out Canada participating in US military action in Iran if the conflict continued to spread, the prime minister said it couldn’t be ruled out and that Canada would stand by its allies, and always defend Canadians.
He said at the joint press conference with Australia’s prime minister:
double quotation markOne can never categorically rule out participation. We will stand by our allies, but it makes sense there’s a distinction between the offensive actions that were taken and are being taken by the United States and Israel, that were taken by them without consultation with Canada, with other allies, and we’re not party to those actions, but we will always defend Canadians. We will always stand by and defend our allies when called.\
Updated at 22.25 EST
Krishani Dhanji
Circling back to Canadian and Australian prime ministers Mark Carney and Anthony Albanese, the leaders were asked how concerned they were about the escalation of war, and whether they were concerned about the actions of the US navy, after Carney called for a de-escalation of conflict.
Albanese said the world wanted to see a de-escalation, for Iran to stop its attacks over an increasing number of countries. He also said Australia wanted to see the “objectives” of the strikes by the US and Israel achieved.
double quotation markWe’re seeing Gulf states that have not been involved attacked across the board, including the attacks on civilian and tourist areas as well. We also want to see the objectives achieved. I want to see the possibility of Iran getting a nuclear weapon removed once and for all. And I also want to see a removal of the ongoing threat that has been there for such a long period of time of Iran endangering peace and security and stability, not just in its own region but here in Australia.
Mark Carney (L) and Anthony Albanese speak to media at Australia’s Parliament House on Thursday. Photograph: Lukas Coch/EPA
At the leaders’ joint press conference in the Australian capital, Carney said he associated himself with Albanese’s remarks, and pointed to the brutality of the Iranian regime, which had killed “scores of Canadians”.
Carney said he wanted to see de-escalation but also that it had to come after those outcomes were achieved.
double quotation markWe want to see a broader de-escalation of these hostilities with a broader group of countries than just the direct belligerence involved. We recognise, we stress, that cannot be achieved unless we’re in a position that Iran’s ability to acquire a nuclear weapon, develop a nuclear weapon, and to export terrorism is ended. So that process must lead to those outcomes.
Updated at 21.12 EST
Iranian bombers ‘two minutes’ from striking US air base before being downed – report
Iranian bomber aircraft came within minutes of striking the largest military base housing US troops in the Middle East before Qatari planes shot them down in their first aerial combat mission, according to a CNN report citing two sources briefed on the operation.
On Monday morning Iran’s Revolutionary Guard dispatched two Soviet-era Su-24 tactical bombers towards al-Udeid air base – which typically houses 10,000 US service members – and Ras Laffan, a key natural gas processing facility and a bedrock of the Qatari economy, the report said.
It continued:
double quotation markThe Iranian jets were “two minutes” away from their targets, one of the sources said. A second source told CNN that the planes were visually identified and photographed “carrying bombs and guided munitions.”
The Qataris issued a warning over radio but received no response from the jets, which had switched to a flying altitude of 80 feet [24 metres] to evade radar detection, the second source said.
Due to “time constraints” and “based on the available evidence”, the aircraft were “classified as hostile”, the second source added. Qatar then dispatched its warplanes, and a Qatari F-15 fighter engaged the Iranian jets in “aerial combat” before downing them, the second source added.
The Iranian planes crashed into Qatar’s territorial waters, the report said, and a Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson said a search was under way for the crews.
US general Dan Caine, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, acknowledged the incident on Wednesday without specifying the Iranian bombers’ target, it said.
ShareKrishani Dhanji
Mark Carney has also said that Canada “aspires” for a ceasefire in Iran but that attacks on civilians must stop first.
At a press conference with Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese at Parliament House in Canberra, the leaders were asked if they would call for a ceasefire.
Carney said the government “aspires” for one but that it was not yet the time for it.
double quotation markTo see a situation where all the parties in this conflict must recognise the necessity to avoid attacks on civilians and on civil infrastructure, that is not given this stage.
Albanese gave a similar answer and added that there needed to be a “de-escalation of hostilities. Right now we have a spreading of hostilities.”
Updated at 20.45 EST
Canadian prime minister Mark Carney has said he supports the strikes on Iran “with some regret” as they represent an extreme example of a rupturing world order.
“Geostrategically, hegemons are increasingly acting without constraint or respect for international norms or laws, while others bear the consequences. Now the extremes of this disruption are being played out in real time in the Middle East,” Carney said in Sydney at the Lowy Institute thinktank during the Australian leg of a trade-focused, three-nation visit.
He also stressed that Canada was not apprised beforehand of the US-Israeli strikes, the Associated Press reports, in his first remarks since the war broke out on Saturday.
“We were not informed in advance, we were not asked to participate,” Carney told reporters travelling with him.
double quotation markPrima-facie, it appears that these actions are inconsistent with international law.
Whether the US and Israeli airstrikes broke international law was “a judgment for others to make”, he said.
Canada supported efforts to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and from threatening international peace and security, Carney said.
Updated at 21.15 EST
Qatar evacuates residents near US embassy in Doha
Qatar is evacuating residents living in the vicinity of the US embassy in Doha as a “temporary precautionary measure”, the Gulf country’s interior ministry said early on Thursday.
“Suitable accommodation has been provided for them as part of necessary preventive measures,” the ministry said in a statement quoted by Reuters.
Iran has launched retaliatory attacks across the Gulf region – targeting US military bases, embassies and civilian infrastructure – in response to the US and Israel’s huge campaign of airstrikes.
Thirteen people, seven of them civilians, have been killed in countries around the Gulf since the war began.
Military helicopters over Doha, Qatar, on Wednesday. Photograph: EPAShare
Updated at 22.46 EST
Israel says it is working to intercept Iranian missiles
Israel’s military said air defences were responding to missiles launched from Iran on Thursday, the first such report in over seven hours, triggering alerts in several areas including Tel Aviv.
The military said in a statement it had “identified missiles launched from Iran toward the territory of the state of Israel. Defensive systems are operating to intercept the threat”, the AFP news agency is reporting.
More than 2,000 Canadians have requested assistance from the Canadian government to leave the Middle East amid the widening conflict, a Canadian official said.
Half of those inquiries came from Canadians in the United Arab Emirates, 200 from Qatar and 160 from Lebanon, the official said on Wednesday.
The Canadian government was working to secure seats on commercial flights out of some cities in the region, Reuters quoted the official as saying, including 75 that were made available on Wednesday and more expected in the coming days.
Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry is saying it has intercepted and destroyed three missiles outside Al-Kharj city.
The city is south-east of the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
Updated at 19.42 EST