The burgeoning conflict in the Middle East has dragged into its seventh day, as Israel ramps up its offensive on Lebanon and orders thousands to leave their homes.
The widening conflict has seen air defences in Azerbaijan and near Turkey spring into action, as Sri Lankan naval authorities look to prevent another attack in their waters after a US submarine sank an Iranian frigate, killing at least 87.
On Friday, Israel launched fresh airstrikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut, pounding a Hezbollah stronghold with 26 strikes as part of a “broad-scale” operation, the military said.
US defence secretary Pete Hegseth has said the United States has “only just begun” in the Iran conflict, where president Donald Trump will have a “heck of a say” in its next supreme leader.
Mr Trump, meanwhile, said in an NBC interview that the pace and intensity of US strikes will continue, and his goal was to “go in and clean out everything” for a new leader of Iran.
Iran has lashed out at nations in the region in retaliation. Hundreds of missiles and drones have been launched at targets in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar, damaging stability and leaving thousands stranded abroad. Civilian targets in the Gulf, including hotels and airports, have also been hit.
Europe has been forced to respond, with Britain sending a destroyer to Cyprus after a drone hit the airbase at Akrotiri. France said it would send the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier to the Mediterranean in response to the “unstable situation”.
With the conflict showing no signs of winding down, The Independent maps the state of affairs.
US-Israeli attacks on Iran
Attacks on Iran have targeted several military sites and government buildings across the country, including the office of Iran’s supreme leader in Tehran, Ali Khamenei, who was killed.
The Iranian Red Crescent says at least 1,045 people have been killed. It was unclear if the overall death toll included Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps military casualties.
According to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, the total number of reported civilian deaths in Iran stands at 1,168, including 194 children under 18.
At least 165 people were killed in a strike on a girls’ elementary school in Minab, many of whom were pupils, authorities said. This prompted outrage from rights groups and the UN, which called for an investigation into the “horrific” attack.
Neither Israel nor the US have taken responsibility for the attack or confirmed whether it took place.
Iran’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Reza Najafi, said that a nuclear facility named Natanz was also hit in the attacks. However, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog has reiterated that no nuclear facilities have been hit.
At least 1,045 people have been killed in US-Israeli attacks on Iran, according to the Iranian Red Cross. The US-based Human Rights Activists in Iran, meanwhile, reports that 742 civilians have been killed, including 176 children.
The United States Central Command says its navy has destroyed 30 Iranian ships – up from the 20 struck or sunk reported yesterday. Admiral Brad Cooper says that the US has struck nearly 200 targets inside Iran over the last 72 hours alone.
Iran attacks on Israel
The Iranian military responded to the initial attacks by launching missiles and drones at Israel, which have struck civilian targets, according to Israeli authorities. At least 10 people have been killed.
Nine people were killed in Beit Shemesh after a missile evaded Israeli air defences, the local ambulance service said. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the site on Monday.
Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian said that avenging the US-Israeli attacks was its “legitimate right and duty”.
Israeli attacks on Lebanon
On Monday, the Israeli military said it launched strikes on Lebanon, including the capital, Beirut, after Iran-backed Hezbollah militants fired rockets at Israel. These strikes intensified throughout the week.
The Lebanese health ministry has reported 123 people have been killed and another 683 wounded as a result of Israeli attacks this week. There have been no reported fatalities in Israel as a result of Hezbollah attacks.
“In response to Hezbollah’s projectile fire”, the IDF said it had “begun striking targets of the Hezbollah terrorist organisation across Lebanon”.
After entering southern Lebanon and forcing thousands to leave their villages and seek shelter elsewhere, Israel on Friday issued evacuation orders for southern Beirut.
Israel said strikes on Beirut had killed Hussein Makled, whom it called “the head of Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters”.
Hezbollah has also warned Israelis to leave towns within 5km (3 miles) of the border.
“Your military’s aggression against Lebanese sovereignty and safe citizens, the destruction of civilian infrastructure and the expulsion campaign it is carrying out will not go unchallenged,” Hezbollah said.
The Lebanese militant group had claimed responsibility for the attacks on Israel, saying it fired rockets and drones “in retaliation for the pure blood of ... Ayatollah Imam Sayyid Ali al-Husseini Khamenei ... and in defence of Lebanon and its people, and in response to the repeated Israeli attacks”.
It is the first time Hezbollah has claimed an attack on Israel since a November 2024 ceasefire.
Iranian attacks on Gulf neighbours, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman
The US embassy in Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh, was hit by two drones on Tuesday, causing a “limited fire”. In Oman, the Duqm commercial port was also struck in a drone attack.
On Monday, a fire was reported to have broken out at the Aramco oil refinery in Ras Tanura in Saudi Arabia as a result of an Iranian strike.
Multiple attacks were launched on Doha, with loud blasts heard in the Qatari capital over the weekend. Qatar’s foreign ministry said, in a statement on Monday, that Iran would “pay a price” for the attacks.
Attempted attacks continued on Monday as Qatar said it had shot down two Iranian aircraft, seven ballistic missiles and several unmanned drones.
On Sunday morning, an oil tanker off the coast of Oman was struck, with four people injured and 20 people forced to be evacuated. The US embassy in the capital Muscat has warned its staff and American citizens to take shelter while the activity is ongoing. Iran issued an apology to Oman, a nation which has played a key role in ongoing negotiations.
The US Navy’s 5th Fleet service centre in Bahrain was also subjected to a missile attack on Saturday, as several residential buildings in Manama were struck.
In Kuwait City, as fire and smoke rose from inside the US embassy compound after it was apparently hit, the country’s defence ministry said “several” American warplanes had also crashed in the country. This was later blamed on “friendly fire”, according to US Central Command.
The UAE, which also houses US military bases, has reported several strikes, with one person dead and several injured after an attack on Zayed International airport. The Palm Hotel in Dubai was also hit, and a fire broke out after debris reportedly fell from the sky during an Iranian missile attack. Another four people have been injured at Dubai International airport after an “incident”.
Attacks have also been reported in Iraq, Syria and Jordan.
Cyprus
The UK confirmed that strikes hit the RAF Akrotiri air base, targeting its runway, on Sunday. On Monday, it was confirmed that a further two drones had been intercepted.
The weekend attacks were the second combined strikes in eight months from the US and Israel against Iran. In the 12-day war last June, Israeli and American strikes greatly weakened Iran’s air defences, military leadership and nuclear programme.
The UK has now sent a warship and helicopters with counter-drone technology to defend the base.
Turkey
Turkey – a Nato member – reported on Wednesday that Nato air and missile defences in the eastern Mediterranean had shot down an Iranian ballistic missile travelling in the direction of Turkey.
A Turkish official said the missile had been aimed at an unspecified military base in Cyprus but had “veered off course”. The weapon had already passed over Iraq and Syria when it was shot down.
Mr Hegseth downplayed suggestions that attacks on Turkey would trigger Nato’s collective defence clause.
Nato said it “stands firmly with all allies, including Turkey, as Iran continues its indiscriminate attacks across the region”. Turkey called for restraint to avoid further escalation.
Sri Lanka
On 4 March, an American submarine sank an Iranian frigate near Sri Lanka as the US ramped up its attacks on Iran’s navy.
In a sign of the conflict’s expanding reach, Hegseth said the strike on Iris Dena occurred off Sri Lanka’s southern coast, thousands of miles from the Gulf.
“An American submarine sank an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters,” Mr Hegseth said at the Pentagon. “Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo. Quiet death.”
Hospital authorities in the Sri Lankan port city of Galle said 87 bodies were brought in by military rescuers who responded to an early morning distress call.
Another 32 were rescued and were being treated in hospital, and about 60 people were likely unaccounted for from an estimated 180 people on board, Sri Lankan authorities said.
Azerbaijan
Four Iranian drones crashed into a school and an airport in Azerbaijan on Thursday, authorities in the country said, injuring at least four people.
Azerbaijan’s government said the attack would “not remain unanswered” after a drone fell onto an airport in Nakhchivan, which lies close to the border with Iran. Authorities said another drone had landed near a school, causing damage.
Footage published on social media showed a drone colliding with an airport terminal building, causing a large explosion and plume of black smoke. Four people were injured in the attacks.
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