Middle East war latest: Air raid sirens, blasts in Jerusalem

Air raid sirens blared, and two blasts were heard in Jerusalem on Thursday, AFP journalists reported, after Israel said it had identified missiles launched from Iran.

The blasts came shortly after Israel’s air raid warning system sent out an alert to people living across central Israel.

Meanwhile, Iran’s military said a naval combat drone attacked a US site in Kuwait

Six injured in Abu Dhabi and blasts heard in Doha, Manama

Debris from a drone injured six people in an industrial zone of the Emirati capital Abu Dhabi on Thursday, while Dubai, Doha and Manama were subjected to missile attacks as Iran pressed on with a retaliation campaign.

The unprecedented attacks by the Islamic republic, targeting US military assets but also American embassies and civilian infrastructure across the Gulf, continued into their sixth day after US-Israeli air strikes that devastated Iran’s leadership.

At least 13 people have been killed in the Gulf, including seven civilians, since Iran began its attacks on Saturday. Washington said six US servicemen were killed, including four in Kuwait.

“Authorities in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi responded to an incident involving falling debris at two locations in the ICAD 2 area, following the successful interception of a drone by air defences,” Abu Dhabi media office said in a statement.

“The incident resulted in six minor to moderate injuries to Pakistani and Nepalese nationals,” it added.

In Doha, AFP journalists saw a plume of smoke rising from the Qatari capital and reported loud blasts across the city and Qatar’s defence ministry said its military was working to intercept an incoming missile.

Earlier, Qatari authorities said they were evacuating residents living near Doha’s US embassy.

Iran Guards say targeted Israel’s Ben Gurion airport with missiles

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Thursday they had targeted Israel’s Ben Gurion airport and an air force base in the area.

“The heavy Khorramshahr-4 missiles carrying one-tonne warheads were launched at dawn today …  toward the heart of Tel Aviv, Ben Gurion airport and the base of the Israeli air force’s 27th squadron located at the airport,” the Guards said in a statement carried by Tasnim news agency.

It came after the first two flights bringing home Israelis stranded abroad by the Middle East war landed at the airport, after the airspace was closed as the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran.

The Airport remains closed for commercial traffic.

Iran has not asked Russia for military aid: Kremlin

Iran has not requested military aid from its ally Russia since Israel and the United States began striking the country last week, the Kremlin said Thursday.

“In this case, there have been no requests from the Iranian side,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, including AFP, in a daily briefing call.

Qatar says air defence systems intercepting missile attack

Qatar’s defence ministry said its military was working to intercept an incoming missile attack as loud blasts reverberated across Doha and smoke was seen over the city.

“The Ministry of Defence of State of Qatar announces that State of Qatar has been subjected to a missile attack,” it said in a statement. “Air Defence systems are intercepting the missile attack,” it added.

Spain sucked into the conflict

Spain will send its most advanced frigate to protect Cyprus after a drone strike on a British base on the Mediterranean island sucked it into the Middle East war, the defence ministry said on Thursday.

The “Cristobal Colon” will join French aircraft carrier “Charles de Gaulle” and Greek navy ships to “offer protection and aerial defence” and “support any evacuation of civilians”, the ministry said in a statement.

Iranian drones hit Azerbaijan airport, near school

Azerbaijan on Thursday summoned the Iranian envoy after two people were wounded in drone hits on an airport and near a school.

The attacks around midday involved at least two drones that crossed from Iran into Azerbaijan’s exclave of Nakhichevan, which borders Iran and is separated from mainland Azerbaijan by Armenia, said a foreign ministry statement.

“One drone fell on the terminal building of Nakhichevan Airport, while another drone fell near a school building in the village of Shekerabad,” the ministry said, damaging the airport and wounding two civilians.

The ministry said it had summoned Iranian envoy in Baku to express “strong protest” over the attack, which “contradicts the norms and principles of international law and contributes to rising tensions in the region.

“Azerbaijan reserves the right to take appropriate retaliatory measures,” it added.

Iran has long expressed concern that Israel — a close ally of Azerbaijan and a key arms supplier — could use Azerbaijani territory to stage attacks.

Last June, Azerbaijan reassured Iran that it would not allow its territory to be used for attacks against Tehran after Israel launched a large-scale strike on Iranian targets.

Tehran has historically been wary of separatist sentiment among its ethnic Azerbaijani minority, which makes up around 10 million of Iran’s 83 million citizens.

Second Iranian ship heading to Sri Lanka after submarine attack

A second Iranian warship was heading towards Sri Lanka’s territorial waters Thursday, a day after a US submarine destroyed an Iranian frigate, killing at least 87 sailors, a minister told parliament.

Media minister Nalinda Jayatissa said the second Iranian warship was just outside Sri Lankan waters, but gave no further details.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake was meeting top officials Thursday to discuss a response to an Iranian request to enter the safety of the island’s waters, official sources said.

They said the vessel was carrying more than 100 crew and feared they too could be targeted the same way a sister vessel was sunk by a US submarine just off Sri Lanka’s southern coast on Wednesday.

Italy to send air-defence aid to Gulf countries: PM

Italy will send air-defence assistance to Gulf countries hit by Iranian strikes launched in retaliation for US-Israeli attacks, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has confirmed.

“Italy, like the UK, France and Germany, intends to send aid to the Gulf countries,” she told RTL 102.5 radio.

“We are clearly talking about defence, air defence, not just because they are friendly nations but because there are tens of thousands of Italians in that area and around 2,000 Italian soldiers that we must protect,” she added.

“And the Gulf is vital for energy supplies for Italy and Europe.”

Meloni was also asked about the potential involvement in the war of the three US military bases in Italy.

She said they already had authorisation for “non-bombing operations”, and any change in this would have to be considered by her government, and likely the Italian parliament.

But “to date, we have no requests in this regard”, she added.

State TV says Iran hit US oil tanker in Gulf

Iranian state television said Iran had struck a US oil tanker in the Gulf with a missile on Thursday, the latest Iranian attack on the energy industry in the region.

The ship “was hit by a missile in the north of the Persian Gulf” and “is currently on fire”, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said in a statement reported by state television.

The incident, which has not been independently confirmed, came as the Guards said they had “full control” of the Strait of Hormuz, which connects the Gulf to the Indian Ocean and is a vital oil and gas transit route.

Explosions heard in Tehran: media

Iranian news agency Tasnim reported that several explosions were heard in Tehran on Thursday morning.

It said the country had activated its defences in response.

Iran launches missiles at Israel

Iran launched a fresh round of missiles at Israel earlier Thursday, triggering alerts in several areas including Tel Aviv, according to the Israeli military and Tehran’s state media.

Explosions were heard in Jerusalem after warnings of incoming Iranian missile fire, according to AFP journalists, but Israel’s emergency services said there were no known casualties.

Air strike hits Hezbollah stronghold

An air strike hit the Hezbollah stronghold of south Beirut early Thursday, after Israel had issued a warning to residents.

Elsewhere, three people were killed in a pair of Israeli strikes on vehicles along Beirut’s airport highway, Lebanon’s health ministry said.

Oil spill near Kuwait

A tanker was hit by a “large explosion” in the waters off Kuwait, causing an oil spill, British maritime security agency UKMTO said.

“The Master of a tanker at anchor, reports witnessing and hearing a large explosion on the port side, then seeing a small craft leave the vicinity” off the Gulf state’s Mubarak Al-Kabeer area, the agency posted on X.

Qatar evacuations near US embassy

Qatar has begun evacuating residents of its capital living near the US embassy as a precautionary measure, the interior ministry said, after Iranian strikes.

Turkey says missile from Iran destroyed

A ballistic missile launched from Iran and heading towards Turkish airspace via Iraq and Syria was destroyed by NATO air defence systems, Turkish officials said.

The defence ministry did not specify the missile’s intended target, but the foreign ministry summoned Iran’s ambassador.

A Turkish official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said the missile had been “aimed at a base in Greek Cyprus but veered off course”.

Trump, Netanyahu hail war effort  

President Donald Trump hailed the US performance in the war, saying Iran’s leaders were rapidly being killed, and vowing to push on.

“We’re doing well on the war front, to put it mildly. Somebody said on a scale of 10, where would you rate it? I said about a 15,” Trump told a gathering of tech bosses.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that Israel and Washington had made “historic gains” in the war.

US Senate rejects bid to curb war

The US Senate rejected a bipartisan resolution aimed at curbing Trump’s authority to continue military strikes on Iran, in a narrow congressional show of support for a conflict launched without explicit approval from lawmakers.

With Republicans holding a 53-47 majority in the upper chamber of Congress, the resolution fell short by exactly that margin.

Canada can’t rule out war role

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said that he couldn’t “rule out participation” in the escalating war.

“We will stand by our allies,” he said alongside local counterpart Anthony Albanese in Canberra.

Spain denies US claim of cooperation

Spain doubled down on its opposition to Washington’s use of its bases against Iran, after Trump’s threats of trade reprisals.

The White House said Madrid had now agreed to cooperate, but Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said its stance on “bases, on the war in the Middle East, on the bombardment of Iran, has not changed at all.”

China to send envoy to mediate

China will send a special envoy to mediate in the Middle East, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said.

Beijing is a close partner of Iran and has said it backs Tehran in defending its sovereignty, while urging the United States and Israel to cease their attacks.

Qatar ire

Qatar’s PM Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani lambasted Iran’s foreign minister during a call, accusing Tehran of trying to drag their neighbours into war.

Cargo crisis deepens

Danish shipping giant Maersk and Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd said they were suspending bookings in the Gulf until further notice following a risk assessment, after China’s Cosco announced a similar halt.

Oil prices had risen as Iran warned vessels against using the narrow Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes and crucial for oil tankers, in the Gulf.

Hormuz crew rescued

The Omani navy rescued 24 crew members of a container ship struck by missiles in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian forces claimed “complete control” of the strait a day after Trump said the US Navy was ready to escort tankers through the channel.

Sri Lanka recovers 87 bodies

A US submarine torpedoed and sank an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka.

“We have collected 87 bodies,” a Sri Lankan navy official told AFP.