President Donald Trump said US forces on Friday “destroyed” targets on Iran’s Kharg Island, which houses the main terminal that handles Iranian oil exports. The Iranian Parliament Speaker warned that such strikes would provoke a new level of retaliation.
Meanwhile, a US official said an additional 2,500 Marines and amphibious assault ships would be sent to the Middle East. Nearly two weeks after the war with the Islamic Republic.
Iran has continued to launch large-scale missile and drone attacks on Israel and neighboring Gulf states, effectively closing off space. Strait of HormuzThrough which a fifth of the world’s oil trade passes, even as US and Israeli warplanes bomb military and other targets across Iran.
These movements seem to indicate that the war, which has been ongoing for two weeks, is not close to ending.
Here is the latest:
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported Israeli raids Saturday morning on Beirut and the south of the country.
The Palestinian movement also urged the countries of the region to “cooperate and stop” the American and Israeli attack on Iran.
Hamas said in a statement on Saturday, its first since the start of the war on February 28: “While the movement affirms the right of the Islamic Republic of Iran to respond to this aggression by all available means in accordance with international norms and laws, it calls on the brothers in Iran to avoid targeting neighboring countries.”
The group, which maintains close relations with Iran and Qatar, said stopping the war was in the region’s interest.
Hamas is part of the so-called Axis of Resistance, which includes Iranian-backed armed groups in the Middle East.
An airstrike hit a house in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, early Saturday, killing at least one person, according to a security official and another affiliated with Iranian-backed armed groups in the country.
They added that the raid that took place in the Karrada neighborhood in Baghdad also resulted in the injury of two people. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.
In a statement, the Iraqi army condemned the raid, describing it as “a blatant violation of all human values and a disregard for international conventions.”
The strike occurred before a missile attack hit the US Embassy compound in Baghdad.
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By Qasim Abdel Zahra
Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency reported that at least 15 explosions occurred, with heavy smoke rising over Kharg Island, which had previously been subjected to US strikes.
She added that the strikes targeted an air defense facility, a naval base, an airport control tower, and a helicopter hangar belonging to an offshore oil company, adding that no damage was caused to the oil infrastructure in the attack.
The Iranian Joint Military Command reiterated its threat to attack US-linked oil and energy facilities in the region if the Islamic Republic’s oil infrastructure is bombed.
Ibrahim Zulfiqari, spokesman for the Khatam al-Anbiya’s central headquarters, made the threat early Saturday, according to Iranian state television.
He warned that Iran would target “all oil, economic and energy infrastructure belonging to oil companies throughout the region that have American shares or cooperate with America” if Iran’s energy and economic infrastructure is attacked.
There was no immediate comment from the US Embassy in Baghdad after its compound in the Iraqi capital was attacked.
On Friday, the embassy renewed its Level 4 security alert for Iraq, warning that Iran and allied militias have previously carried out attacks against American citizens, interests, and infrastructure, and “may continue to target them.”
The sprawling embassy complex, one of the largest US diplomatic facilities in the world, has been repeatedly targeted by missiles and drones in the past by militias allied with Iran.
These groups have recently intensified their attacks on bases hosting American and coalition forces.
A drone strike in northern Iraq on Thursday killed a French soldier and wounded several others stationed there as part of the international coalition.
Two security officials said that a missile hit a helipad inside the US embassy in Baghdad.
The security officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press, added that the projectile fell within the embassy’s borders after the Green Zone, a heavily fortified area in central Baghdad that includes Iraqi government institutions and foreign embassies.
A video obtained by The Associated Press showed smoke rising from inside the complex.
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By Qasim Abdel Zahra