Beirut: Israel struck southern Lebanon and Beirut early Sunday, resulting in the death of 12 people, as reported by the Lebanese Health Ministry. This escalation marks a significant intensification of the ongoing Middle East conflict. The strikes were said to target commanders of the Lebanese branch of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force, aligning with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent statements promising ‘many surprises’ in the next phase of the war.
According to United News of Bangladesh, the conflict, which began on February 28 following joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran, has led to substantial casualties, with at least 1,230 deaths in Iran, over 300 in Lebanon, and around a dozen in Israel. The region remains tense as the violence spreads beyond its initial borders. In the Gulf region, two Kuwaiti border guards lost their lives due to missile and drone attacks. Additionally, an Israeli strike on an oil storage facility in Tehran on Saturday night ignited a massive fire, marking the first attack on a civilian industrial site during this conflict.
Bahrain has reported an Iranian drone attack that caused ‘material damage’ to a desalination plant, marking the first such incident in an Arab country during this nine-day conflict. In a related incident, three people were injured in Muharraq city when missile shrapnel fell on a university building. Meanwhile, Israel announced strikes on F-14 fighter jets at Isfahan Airport, originally purchased from the U.S. before Iran’s revolution, targeting detection and air defense systems, though it has not confirmed the destruction of these jets.