Iran war enters seventh day as Israel expands strikes to Beirut and Tehran
The regional war involving Iran, Israel and the United States entered its seventh day after Israel announced a “next phase” of operations and bombed Beirut’s southern suburbs, while blasts were heard in Tehran following what Israel said were strikes on “regime infrastructure” in the Iranian capital.
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Residents in Beirut’s southern districts fled after the Israeli military issued an unprecedented warning to evacuate “immediately.” In Tehran, AFP journalists reported loud explosions in parts of the city as Israel said it hit targets linked to Iran’s leadership and military apparatus.
Lebanon’s health ministry said at least 123 people have been killed and 638 wounded in Israeli strikes since the country was pulled into the conflict earlier this week, a toll that includes casualties from the latest bombardment of Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Israel’s military chief, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, said the joint U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran was entering its next stage, aimed at dismantling the Islamic republic’s military capabilities. “We have additional surprises ahead which I do not intend to disclose,” he said in a televised address.
Saudi Arabia said it intercepted three ballistic missiles launched toward Prince Sultan Air Base as Iran pressed attacks across the Gulf. The defense ministry said the missiles were “intercepted and destroyed,” and some Western embassy staff in Riyadh were told to shelter in place following an attack on the U.S. Embassy compound earlier this week, according to diplomatic sources.
Bahrain said Iranian strikes hit a hotel and two residential buildings in Manama, revising an earlier statement that two hotels and one residential building were struck. The attack followed an Iranian missile strike that ignited a blaze at the kingdom’s main state-owned oil refinery.
NATO said it has strengthened its “ballistic missile defense posture” amid what it called Iran’s “indiscriminate attacks across the region,” including a missile launched at alliance member Turkey that was shot down. The alliance’s 32 members agreed to keep the posture at a heightened level until the threat subsides.
The conflict’s reach extended to the Indian Ocean. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said three Australian military personnel were aboard a U.S. submarine that sank an Iranian navy ship off Sri Lanka this week as part of AUKUS training arrangements with the United States and Britain. Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said his navy took control of another Iranian vessel, the IRIS Bushehr, and offloaded 208 sailors a day after the deadly submarine attack on a separate ship off the island’s southern coast.
Beyond the Gulf and Levant, the war’s ripple effects were felt as far as the South Caucasus. Azerbaijan threatened retaliation after a drone struck an airport, and in Egypt, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi warned the country was in an economic “state of near-emergency” driven by runaway inflation. He said price-gouging traders could face military courts, according to a statement from his spokesman.
In Washington, U.S. President Donald Trump rejected the possibility of Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the slain Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, succeeding his father. “Khamenei’s son is a lightweight,” he said, adding he believed he should have a role in choosing Iran’s next leader and voicing support for any move by Iranian Kurdish fighters to launch an offensive inside Iran. “I think it’s wonderful that they want to do that, I’d be all for it,” Trump said. He drew a comparison to Venezuela, saying he wanted to be involved in the appointment “like with Delcy.”
The war has produced cascading security alerts. Israel urged mass evacuations in parts of Beirut; NATO bolstered missile defenses; Saudi Arabia reported fresh interceptions; and U.S. partners as far away as Sri Lanka and Australia were drawn into naval incidents linked to the conflict. With blast clouds rising over Tehran and Beirut and regional capitals bracing for more, commanders and leaders on all sides signaled there would be further escalation—and few immediate off-ramps.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
