Latest: Israel says military killed Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib

Latest: Israel says military killed Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib

Dubai, Mar 18 (AP) Israel’s defence minister said Wednesday that the military killed Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib.

Khatib’s killing follows Israel killing top Iranian security official Ali Larijani and the head of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard’s all-volunteer Basij force.

Also on Wednesday, Iran launched strikes toward Israel and neighbouring Gulf countries, 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 General 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 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.

Here is the latest: UAE says 13 missiles and 27 drones fired on the country The United Arab Emirates has tallied 13 ballistic missiles and 27 drones fired Wednesday on the oil-rich nation.

Iranian state media says natural gas facilities attacked Facilities associated with Iran’s massive offshore South Pars natural gas field came under attack Wednesday, state media reported.

Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency reported on the attack targeting facilities at Asaluyeh in Iran’s southern Bushehr province.

They did not immediately elaborate.

Iran shares the offshore field in the Persian Gulf with Qatar, which it has repeatedly attacked during the war along with other Gulf Arab nations.

It wasn’t clear if Israel or the United States had carried out the attack, however the US has been operating primarily in southern Iran.

The US previously attacked Iran’s Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf, its main oil terminal.

At least 8 killed in Iran courthouse airstrike At least eight people were killed in an airstrike on a courthouse complex in Iran’s Larestan County on Wednesday, according to Iran’s official judiciary news agency Mizan.

The head of the Fars province judiciary told Mizan that one lawyer, six clients and a member of the judicial staff were killed, but the agency reports the exact number of those killed and wounded is not yet known.

Israel says strikes targeted Hezbollah-linked financial institution The Israeli military said it hit branches of al-Qard al-Hasan, a Hezbollah-linked microfinance institution that Israel says is being used to fund the group’s military wing.

A wave of Israeli strikes overnight hit several neighbourhoods in central Beirut and killed 10 people, the Lebanese Health Ministry said.

Israel also said its navy targeted Hezbollah militants in Beirut.

French envoy bashes Hezbollah and Israel France’s special envoy for Lebanon, Jean-Yves Le Drian, speaking to the France Info radio station on Wednesday, said the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah “bears full responsibility for the resumption of fighting in Lebanon" but “Israel’s response has been disproportionate and counterproductive, as it unites various actors against Israel".

He criticised Israel for mass evacuation orders that have driven the displacement of more 1 million people in Lebanon and for spurning offers by the Lebanese government to enter into negotiations.

Israel and the US have criticised the Lebanese state for failing to disarm Hezbollah after the last Israel-Hezbollah war ended with a ceasefire in November 2024. Le Drian said the state had taken steps toward disarmament.

“Israel occupied Lebanon for many years and did not succeed in eliminating Hezbollah’s military capabilities," Le Drian said.

“It cannot now demand that the Lebanese government achieve this in three days under bombardment." Israel says Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib killed Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday that the Israeli military killed Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib.

Khatib’s killing follows Israel killing top Iranian security official Ali Larijani and the head of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard’s all-volunteer Basij force.

Israel says Basij chief was killed while hiding in a tent A senior Israeli military intelligence official says Israel killed the head of Iran’s Basij force while he was hiding in a tent hidden in a wooded area under some trees.

The official says Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani was killed with his top staff in the strike.

The official says such strikes, which have killed many members of Iran’s leadership, are meant to send a message that “they have no safe place". The account could not be independently verified.

Kremlin condemns Larijani killing The Kremlin on Wednesday condemned Israel’s killing of Iran’s senior security officials.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said “we resolutely condemn" the killing of members of the Iranian leadership, including Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and one of the country’s most powerful figures.

NATO deploys Patriot air defence battery to southern Turkey Turkish military spokesperson Rear Adm. Zeki Akturk said a second Patriot missile system was being sent to Adana province, where the US and other countries maintain a military presence alongside Turkish troops at Incirlik Air Base.

The battery was being sent by the Allied Air Command in Ramstein, Germany, he said Wednesday.

Three ballistic missiles have been fired toward Turkey from Iran since the start of the war. They were intercepted by NATO air defences stationed in the eastern Mediterranean.

Turkey last week said NATO had positioned a Patriot system in the southeastern Malatya province where a NATO radar station is based.

Journalist with Hebzollah’s Al-Manar TV killed in airstrike 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 grand children were wounded in strike early Wednesday.

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

Iraq resumes exports of Kirkuk oil via Turkey Iraq said 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 hit by missile and drone, sirens sound in Israel Bahrain said Wednesday 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.

Lebanon ministry says Beirut airstrikes kill 10 people 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.

Israel suspends UNICEF shipments to Gaza COGAT, Israel’s military body in charge of coordinating aid to Gaza, said Wednesday it found tobacco and nicotine products inside hygeine 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.

Russia says no damage or injuries from strike on Iran’s nuclear power plant Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom says Russian-built nuclear power plant in Iran had come under attack, but there was no damage or injuries.

Rosatom chief Alexei Likhachev said on Wednesday that the strike a day earlier was near the meteorology service building close to the nuclear reactor. He said there was no increase in radiation levels.

It was the first attack on the plant in Bushehr, southern Iran since the start of the war. Likhachev condemned the strike as a “flagrant disregard for key rules and principles of international security".

He said that Rosatom has evacuated 250 workers and family members from Iran, but another 480 remain in Bushehr and some of them will be evacuated.

No request from US to help keep Strait of Hormuz open, Australian minister says A senior Australian government minister said he isn’t aware of any formal US request for military support to keep the Strait of Hormuz open.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers was responding Wednesday to US President Donald Trump’s complaint that Australia, Japan, South Korea and NATO had rejected his calls to help secure the strait from Iranian attack.

Asked if Australia had received any formal US request for extra military support to keep the strait open, Chalmers told Australian Broadcasting Corp: “Not that I’m aware of." “It’s not something that we’ve been considering, in terms of sending battleships to the Strait of Hormuz," Chalmers told Sky News television in another interview. (AP) PY PY

Source: News18
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