Israel launched strikes on Lebanon early Thursday and reported intercepting missiles fired from Iran, as the widening conflict involving the United States and Israel triggered fresh instability in Iraq.
An airstrike carried out before dawn hit a suburb of Beirut known to be a stronghold of Hezbollah, the Iran-backed group that has vowed retaliation following the reported killing of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, at the onset of the war on Saturday.
Israeli authorities, who had earlier warned residents to evacuate the area, said their defence systems were also intercepting a new wave of missiles launched from Iran, despite claims by the U.S. military that Iran’s capabilities had been severely weakened.
Tehran has promised a strong response to the attacks and has fired missiles across parts of the region. Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards also announced on Wednesday that they had shut the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic passage into the Gulf through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s crude oil supply passes.
“The Americans’ mischief and deceit could lead to the collapse of the entire military and economic infrastructure of the region,” the Iranian military command warned in a statement.