Iran Attacks Israel, Gulf Countries After Israeli Strike Kills Its Security Chief

Dubai, Mar 18: Iran launched strikes toward Israel and neighbouring Gulf countries early Wednesday, with explosions heard in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar and interceptions reported in Saudi Arabia.

The attacks came hours after Iranian state media confirmed Israel’s military killed top Iranian security official Ali Larijani in an overnight strike, as well as Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani, the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s Basij force, known for its role in suppressing protests.

An Israeli airstrike struck an apartment building in Bachoura, central Beirut, completely flattening it as day broke. Two earlier strikes on residential apartments in other central Beirut neighbourhoods early on Wednesday killed at least six people and wounded 24 others, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

Israeli strikes targeting central Beirut have become increasingly frequent in recent days, with or without prior warning. The attacks have hit far from the city’s southern suburbs, for which the army issued evacuation notices early in the war with Hezbollah.

The US-Israeli war with Iran has killed at least 1,300 people in Iran, more than 900 in Lebanon and 14 in Israel, according to officials in those countries. The US military says 13 US service members have been killed and about 200 wounded.

Al-Manar said that the head of its political program, Mohammed Sherri, was killed along with his wife in the strike on central Beirut’s Zokak Blatt neighbourhood.

Al-Manar added that Sherri’s children and grandchildren were wounded in a strike early Wednesday.

Sherri had been a presenter at the station for many years and had been well-known in the country.

Iraq said on Wednesday it has resumed oil exports from fields in the city of Kirkuk through a pipeline to the Turkish port of Ceyhan.

The development came after the Iraqi government reached a deal with the autonomous Kurdish administration north of the country, the Iraqi oil ministry said.

The move avoids the Persian Gulf altogether. The ministry said it will initially export 250,000 barrels per day of crude oil.

The war in the Middle East and the virtual closure of the Strait of Hormuz have severely impacted Iraq, whose economy depends overwhelmingly on oil.

Bahrain said Wednesday that Iran fired a missile and a drone at the island kingdom that hosts the US 5th Fleet.

Meanwhile, sirens have sounded in parts of northern Israel warning of incoming missiles.

The ministry said on Wednesday that the airstrikes, which began around midnight, have also wounded 27.

It said 912 people have been killed and 2,221 wounded in Lebanon since the latest round of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah began on March 2.

COGAT, Israel’s military body in charge of coordinating aid to Gaza, said Wednesday it found tobacco and nicotine products inside hygiene kits while inspecting a UNICEF aid shipment a day earlier at the Kerem Shalom crossing.

UNICEF didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Maj. Gen. Yoram Halevi of COGAT said the suspension will remain until UNICEF responds to the matter.

Israel has tightly controlled the entry of aid and commercial goods into Gaza since the Oct. 2023 start of the war, but smugglers manage to get goods through.

Last month, Israel’s Justice Ministry charged a dozen people, including Israeli soldiers, with systematically smuggling hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of goods, including iPhones and batteries, into Gaza. (AP)