By Laila Bassam, Alexander Cornwell, Andrew Mills and Maha El Dahan
BEIRUT/TEL AVIV/DOHA/DUBAI, March 2 (Reuters) – Israel launched new air strikes targeting Iran and expanded its assault to include attacks on Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon on Monday, as Tehran said it launched a new wave of missiles that had “opened the great gates of fire” on Israel.
Israel said it was attacking sites connected to Lebanon’s Shi’ite Muslim Hezbollah militants, one of Tehran’s principal allies in the Middle East, after Hezbollah said it launched missiles and drones toward Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Lebanese state news agency NNA said an initial tally showed 31 people had been killed and 149 injured in the strikes, which Israel said targeted Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut. Israel said it also struck senior Hezbollah militants.
Israel also launched more strikes against Iran. Explosions were heard in different parts of Tehran, with a hit on Iran’s Sanandaj city in the western Kurdistan province killing at least three people, state media said.
Shortly after 7:00 a.m. (0500 GMT) air raid sirens were triggered across Israel, including in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, warning of a fresh Iranian attack.
Missiles were being launched from central parts of Iran towards “enemy locations”, Iranian state media said.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps in a statement said the missile wave targeted the Israeli government complex in Tel Aviv, as well as military and security centres in Haifa and areas in East Jerusalem, saying those attacks would expand and air raid sirens in Israel “would never stop”.
U.S. President Donald Trump in interviews on Sunday with multiple news outlets said the U.S.-Israeli military assault on Iranian targets could continue for at least four weeks.
UK CYPRUS BASE HIT, BLASTS IN QATAR, KUWAIT, UAE
Kuwait said its air defences intercepted hostile drones while the U.S. embassy in the Gulf state issued a warning to take cover due to the threat of missile and hostile drone attacks.
Witnesses saw a heavy presence of security, ambulances and fire trucks near the U.S. embassy, while a video obtained by Reuters showed black smoke rising from the surrounding area.
Reuters witnesses also heard loud blasts in Dubai, the Qatari capital Doha and Samha, about 50 km (31 miles) from Abu Dhabi.
A drone strike hit Britain’s Royal Air Force base of Akrotiri in Cyprus overnight, causing limited damage and no casualties, the island’s president and Britain’s defence ministry said on Monday, in the first attack on the base since an assault by Libyan militants in 1986, and a marked escalation to the conflict.
‘PROLONGED DAYS OF COMBAT AHEAD’
The Hezbollah and Israel tit-for-tat attacks, which follow a U.S.-brokered ceasefire in 2024, widen the conflict that has spread through the Middle East since the United States and Israel attacked Iran on Saturday, sending oil prices soaring and snarling air travel.
Israeli’s military Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir said combat operations against Hezbollah could be prolonged, lasting days.
“This requires strong defensive readiness and sustained offensive readiness, operating in continuous waves while constantly utilising opportunities,” Zamir said in a statement.
The Israeli military said late on Sunday that its air force had established aerial superiority over Tehran, and that a wave of strikes across the capital had targeted intelligence, security, and military command centers.
A source briefed on the Israeli operation against Iran said strikes so far have been significantly more intense and extensive than the 12‑day war between the two countries last June.
Another wave of Israeli reservists would be called up in the next 48 hours, the source said, adding Israel was able to bring in as many weapons as possible in recent weeks, meaning no shortage of defensive and offensive capabilities.
ASSAULT TO CONTINUE UNABATED, WHITE HOUSE SAYS
A senior White House official told Reuters that while Trump would at some point talk with new potential leadership in Iran, the military campaign would go on.
“President Trump said new potential leadership in Iran has indicated they want to talk and eventually he will talk. For now, Operation Epic Fury continues unabated,” the official said.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian on Sunday said a leadership council composed of himself, the judiciary head and a member of the powerful Guardian Council had temporarily assumed the duties of Supreme Leader.
In an X post on Monday, Ali Larijani, who was adviser to Iran’s Khamenei, said his country would not negotiate with Trump. He said the U.S. president had “delusional ambitions” and was now worried about U.S. casualties.
FIRST US CASUALTIES
The first U.S. casualties of the campaign, including the deaths of three service personnel were confirmed on Sunday. Two U.S. officials told Reuters the U.S. service members were killed on a base in Kuwait.
Trump paid tribute to the three killed as “true American patriots” but warned that there will likely be more casualties.
An extended military campaign could pose a major political risk for Trump’s Republican party ahead of U.S. midterm elections. Only around one in four Americans approve of the operation, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll on Sunday.
But in a video posted on Sunday, Trump vowed military strikes on Iran will continue until “all our objectives are achieved” without providing specifics. He said the assault had so far wiped out Iran’s military command and destroyed nine Iranian navy ships and a naval building.
American aircraft and warships have struck more than 1,000 Iranian targets since the start of major combat operations on Saturday, the U.S. military said.
Trump called on Iran’s military and police, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, to stop fighting, promising immunity for those who surrender and threatening “certain death” for those who resist. He reiterated calls for the Iranian people to revolt against the government.
EXISTENTIAL CHALLENGE FOR IRAN
Following the death of Khamenei, Iran faces a power vacuum that could leave it in chaos, but the Trump administration has not outlined longer-term aims for the country.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Sunday they had hit three U.S. and UK oil tankers in the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, and attacked military bases in Kuwait and Bahrain with drones and missiles. Shipping data showed hundreds of vessels including oil and gas tankers dropping anchor in nearby waters with traders expecting sharp jumps in crude oil prices on Monday.
Global air travel was also heavily disrupted as continued air strikes kept major Middle Eastern airports closed, including Dubai — the world’s busiest international hub — in one of the biggest aviation interruptions in recent years. Asian airline shares plunged on Monday, with some major carriers down more than 5%.
It remained unclear what the longer-term prospects were for Iran to rebuild its leadership and replace 86-year-old Khamenei, who had held power since the death of the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989.
Experts said that while his death and those of other Iranian leaders would deal Iran a major blow, it would not necessarily spell the end of Iran’s entrenched clerical rule or the sway of the elite Revolutionary Guards over the population.
($1 = 1.6575 marka)
(Reporting by Alexander Cornwell, Laila Bassam in Lebanon, Jana Choukeir in Dubai, Andrew Mills in Doha, Michele Kambas in Nicosia and Yiannis Kourtoglou at Akrotiri; Additional reporting by Parisa Hafezi in Dubai, Emily Rose and Reuters bureaux; Writing by Michael Georgy, James Mackenzie, Nathan Layne, Andrew Goudsward and Martin Petty; Editing by Sergio Non, Raju Gopalakrishnan, Hugh Lawson, William Maclean, Bill Berkrot and Michael Perry)
