Category World News

Iran says it targets Israeli bases, accuses Israel of targeting hospitals

Iran’s military says it has targeted Israeli military bases and the domestic security service Shin Bet as the United States-Israeli war on Iran and Tehran’s retaliation across the region approach their third week.

“The Palmachim and Ovda airbases of the Zionist regime as well as the headquarters of Shin Bet were targeted by drones from the Islamic Republic of Iran’s army,” the military said in a statement on Thursday carried by state television. Israel has yet to comment on the Iranian military’s claims.

Recommended Stories

list of 3 itemsend of list

Israel said it identified more missiles launched towards the country from Iran. Missile alert alarms sounded in Jerusalem, and explosions were heard as the Israeli military sought to intercept the incoming fire.

Overnight, missile launches from Iran and Hezbollah also sent Israelis scurrying to shelters in multiple other areas, including Tel Aviv and the northern border area with Lebanon.

Israel said on Thursday that it had launched another “wide-scale” round of air strikes across Iran.

At least 13 people in Israel have been killed, and nearly 2,000 injured since the war began on February 28, according to Israeli officials.

Now in its 13th day, the war shows no sign of abating despite US President Donald Trump’s insistence that US strikes on Iran had already practically defeated it.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tehran remains committed to regional peace but insists the war can end only if Iran’s “legitimate rights” are recognised.

In a post on X, Pezeshkian said he had spoken with leaders of Russia and Pakistan and reiterated Iran’s position that the conflict was “ignited by the Zionist regime and the US”.

He said any resolution must include recognition of Iran’s rights, payment of reparations and international guarantees against future attacks.

There has been no response yet from Washington.

Pezeshkian posted his remarks as diplomatic efforts intensify to contain the conflict with Russia maintaining close contact with Iranian leaders and calling for a halt to hostilities.

Iran says US, Israel hitting hospitals

Hospitals and health facilities across Iran have suffered damage as US-Israeli strikes intensify, according to Iranian Deputy Health Minister Ali Jafarian.

Speaking to Al Jazeera from Tehran, Jafarian said medical teams are coping with a growing number of casualties, many of them civilians.

“Unfortunately, there are a lot of … victims who are killed at the scene because [the US and Israel] are carpet bombing … civilian infrastructure,” he said, adding that at least 1,395 people have been killed.

People are trapped under collapsed buildings, he said, adding that strikes on urban areas have intensified in recent days.

“We have 31 major clinical facilities and hospitals damaged. Twelve of those hospitals are inactive now.”

Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi, reporting from Tehran, said targets are not just military sites or police stations but also civilian facilities, such as schools and hospitals. He said oil depots and energy and water infrastructure around Tehran also have been targeted.

“We have reports about electricity shortages in some of the cities, such as Karaj, but also there are serious concerns right now when it comes to public health and the air that people are breathing in the Iranian capital and cities in the vicinity of the capital,” he added.

Analysts said Israel’s tactics in Iran mirror its conduct during its genocidal war in Gaza, which began on October 7, 2023. They accused Israel of dismantling entire systems by hitting schools, public infrastructure and state institutions.

A spokesman for the Iranian Red Crescent Society on Wednesday said nearly 20,000 civilian buildings, including at least 16,000 residential units, have been affected since the US-Israel war on Iran began.

In the meantime, Iranian parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said on ⁠X on Thursday that ⁠any US aggression against Iranian ⁠islands in ⁠the Gulf will prompt Tehran to “abandon ‌all restraint”.

North Korea says no more protests after China stir in Women’s Asian Cup

North Korea has pledged there will be no more sideline protests during their 2026 Women’s Asian Cup quarterfinal with Australia on Friday, after causing a stir against China.

An incensed North Korea refused to play for several minutes in their 2-1 loss to the Chinese during a group game on Monday.

Recommended Stories

list of 4 itemsend of list

They were left fuming when former Tottenham attacker Wang Shuang scored in first-half stoppage time, demanding the referee look at the pitchside monitor.

The three-time champions refused to resume the game for four minutes as boos rang out.

“If that kind of situation happens again in (Friday’s) match, we will follow the referees, the match official’s decision, and respect it,” coach Ri Song Ho told reporters in Perth through an interpreter on Thursday.

Ri was yellow-carded for his part in the fracas.

North Korea are set to face a partisan full house at Perth Rectangular Stadium against the hosts, who beat them on penalties in the 2010 final after it ended 1-1.

Australia’s Sam Kerr is the only player left from the match, with North Korea now boasting a young and physical side.

They are looking to build on defending their Women’s U17 World Cup title in Morocco last year, which came on the heels of winning the U20 World Cup in Colombia in 2024.

Talented striker Choe Il Son played in both those triumphs before transitioning to the full national side.

“We know Australia are a formidable team, so tomorrow we will give our best to support each other and perform at our highest level,” she said.

“We have talent on our side, and we’ve been preparing carefully for the match. We’re excited to show what our team can do on the pitch.”

Residents of this Beirut neighbourhood felt safe. Then Israel attacked it.

Beirut, Lebanon – In the early hours of March 11, Mohammad al-Ahmad was asleep at home with his wife and kids when he heard an explosion. It was about 5:20am.

“I woke up in a panic,” he told Al Jazeera, sitting in his tracksuit in a supermarket across the street from the blast site in Beirut’s Aicha Bakkar neighbourhood, his close-cropped brown hair specked with grey.

Recommended Stories

list of 3 itemsend of list

“I wanted to go see if my kids were all right and then a second explosion happened.”

The strike took out two whole floors in a residential building, leaving the street below covered in glass, concrete and dust. The Lebanese Ministry of Health said four people were injured in the attack. Israeli media said the apartment was used by the Jama’a Islamiye (the Islamic Group), though the group denied that any of its members or offices were targeted.

Al-Ahmad said his building was directly next to the one that was hit and his apartment was on the same level. “Glass is all over the floor, it’s all broken. The house has a lot of damage,” he said.

A third ordnance was found unexploded. “Thank God it didn’t explode,” he said. “If it exploded the damage would have been much worse.”

The site of Israel's attack on Aisha Bakkar [Justin Salhani/Al Jazeera]
The site of Israel’s attack in Beirut’s Aicha Bakkar neighbourhood [Justin Salhani/Al Jazeera]

‘Israelis strike wherever they see fit’

Israel intensified its war on Lebanon again on Monday, March 2, after Hezbollah attacked Israel for the first time in more than a year.

Hezbollah said it was responding to the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei just two days earlier. A ceasefire had ostensibly been in effect since November 27, 2024, despite the United Nations and Lebanese government counting more than 15,000 Israeli ceasefire violations since then.

After Hezbollah’s reply, Israel intensified its attacks on the south and its troops have pushed further into Lebanese territory, engaging Hezbollah in battle in a couple of southern villages. Israel also issued evacuation orders for the entirety of south Lebanon, Beirut’s southern suburbs (known as Dahiyeh), and a few villages in the eastern Bekaa Valley, leading to a massive displacement crisis of at least 800,000 people, according to the Lebanese government.

Israel has since resumed attacking Dahiyeh multiple times a day, though before Wednesday’s strike, it had only attacked central Beirut once. The attack has shaken residents of the city, who were under the impression their areas were deemed safe.

In 2024, Israel struck multiple times in central Beirut and hit targets in every region of Lebanon, including those where Hezbollah or its supporters are not well represented or supported.

Nicholas Blanford, a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council, told Al Jazeera that the Israelis were following a similar pattern to 2024.

“They are finding their targets and hitting them wherever they may be,” Blanford said.

“The Israelis will strike targets where they see fit,” Blanford said. “I don’t think they are particularly bothered necessarily where the location is, if it’s in a Sunni area, a Christian area, or whatever.”

A woman looks on from her damaged apartment, across from the site of attack in the Aisha Bakkar neighbourhood in Beirut. [Justin Salhani/Al Jazeear]
A woman looks on from her damaged apartment, across from the site of the attack in the Aicha Bakkar neighbourhood in Beirut [Justin Salhani/Al Jazeera]

We are afraid now

Residents in Aicha Bakkar said their sense of relative safety was completely shattered by Wednesday’s attack.

Ahmad Ballout, a 66-year-old retired English teacher, lives on the first floor of the building facing the building that was attacked. He said he left his home near Sidon, south Lebanon, in 2023 as Hezbollah and Israel started fighting and rented a furnished apartment in Beirut.

Just before the strike, Ballout was on the couch in his living room while his family slept inside. The force of the blast threw him onto the living room floor. It shattered much of the glass in his apartment and damaged his balcony.

“It took me a while to realise what was happening,” he said. “Now, I’m in pain. It was a big strike but God help all the others.”

The strike damaged many of the surrounding buildings. Two floors in the building where the attack took place were missing exterior walls. Inside, dust and debris covered a carpet that hung over the building’s exterior facade and a mattress that had ended up against an interior wall.

Cars below had their windshields broken by falling debris. Shocked neighbours looked on from their balconies, some having sustained damage to the steel or glass.

Ballout says the attack not only damaged his apartment but shattered the illusion of safety he had.

“We weren’t afraid before, but we are now,” he said.

That fear has led to frustration in the neighbourhood. A woman walking down the street by the site of the attack yelled out to whoever could hear: “We didn’t ask for this!”

On the corner of that street, Bilal Ahmad walked out of his brother’s building with his young daughter. “I don’t get it,” he told Al Jazeera. The target of the attack has yet to be named by Israel, Hezbollah or the Lebanese government. But Ahmad said that groups that know that they are Israeli targets should not put other residents in danger by staying there.

“The people here, where are they supposed to go [to be safe]? Go sit on the sand at the sea but don’t come between families and kids,” he said.

Damaged cars below the Israeli attack on Aisha Bakkar, Beirut. [Justin Salhani/Al Jazeera]
Damaged cars below the Israeli attack on Aicha Bakkar, Beirut [Justin Salhani/Al Jazeera]

Checking identities

The attack has also set in motion a larger set of demands driven by fear. A few locals have called for the Lebanese government to protect them by controlling who enters their neighbourhoods.

“In the last war this didn’t happen,” al-Ahmad said. “People in every area, not just this area, should know who is coming and going and following up on this. A lot of people were hurt without any fault of their own.”

Al-Ahmad said he worries about the impact on his two boys – the elder boy is four years old, and the younger one is just a year old. One of them has a speech impediment and sees a speech therapist to work on his pronunciation. Al-Ahmad worries the trauma of the incident will further impact his son’s speech.

“We didn’t ask for this and we can’t take this,” he said, his eyes tearing up. “Whoever wants to do this, get out of this area. People are fed up. It’s a crowded area and we’re sheltering people who are even more fed up.”

Still, al-Ahmad is not calling for a ban on hosting displaced people. “We’re not upset that displaced people are here, we accept everyone, Lebanese and even Syrians, Christian and Muslim. We accept anyone but we won’t accept danger.”

Al-Ahmad said he cannot leave the neighbourhood: His home is there, as are his businesses, including he electricity company he works at with his brother-in-law.

Iran war: What is happening on day 13 of US-Israel attacks?

EXPLAINER

The United States and Israeli strikes on Iran continue, as Tehran has stepped up attacks to disrupt energy markets, triggering a spike in oil prices.

According to Iran’s representative to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani, at least 1,348 civilians have been killed as the war entered its 13th day on Thursday.

Recommended Stories

list of 1 itemend of list

Meanwhile, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has outlined three conditions to end the war: recognition of Tehran’s legitimate rights, payment of reparations and firm international guarantees against future aggression.

This comes as Tehran has continued retaliatory attacks and signalled potential conditions for ending the conflict.

At the same time, cyberattacks, maritime incidents in the Strait of Hormuz and rising oil prices are adding to the global fallout of the war.

Here are the latest developments:

In Iran

  • Growing death toll: At least 1,348 civilians have been killed and over 17,000 injured in Iran since the US and Israel launched their attacks on February 28.
  • ‘Catastrophic’ humanitarian toll: UNICEF reported that the escalating conflict has created a “catastrophic” situation, with more than 1,100 children reported injured or killed.
  • Conditions for peace: President Pezeshkian said Tehran would consider ending the war if its “legitimate rights” are recognised, reparations are paid and firm international guarantees prevent future attacks.
  • Cyberattack: Iran-linked group Handala said it crippled medical device giant Stryker’s networks and stole 50TB of data in retaliation for the Minab school strike that killed more than 170 people, mostly schoolchildren.
  • UN call to halt attacks: The UN Security Council adopted a resolution urging Iran to stop attacks on Gulf states, without mentioning US or Israeli strikes on Iran.
  • Top adviser calls Trump ‘Satan’: Yahya Rahim Safavi, a senior adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, lashed out at US President Donald Trump on state television, calling him “the most corrupt and stupid American president” and “Satan himself”.
  • No evidence of mines: French President Emmanuel Macron said he had “no confirmation” Iran was laying sea mines in the Strait of Hormuz after reports the key waterway had been mined.
  • Joint strike with Hezbollah: The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it carried out a joint missile operation with Lebanese ally Hezbollah against targets in Israel.
  • Tensions in the Strait of Hormuz: The IRGC said it fired at two vessels that allegedly ignored warnings. Additionally, Oman’s navy rescued 20 sailors from a Thai-flagged vessel attacked in the strait.

The Gulf countries

  • Saudi Arabia: The Ministry of Defence on Thursday said two drones heading towards the Shaybah oilfield were intercepted and destroyed over the kingdom’s Empty Quarter desert. Another drone towards the oilfield had earlier been “intercepted and destroyed”. Earlier on Thursday, the ministry said it shot down one drone approaching a district housing foreign embassies, and another in the eastern region.
  • Oman: A drone attack damaged several fuel tanks at the port of Salalah, an act strongly condemned by Qatar as a dangerous escalation. Iran has denied being behind the attack.
  • Bahrain: The country responded to an Iranian attack on fuel tanks in Muharraq, urging residents to stay indoors to avoid smoke.
  • UAE: The country intercepted a massive wave of Iranian projectiles, including six ballistic missiles, seven cruise missiles, and 39 drones on March 11. Citibank has told The Associated Press news agency that it will close all its branches except one following a threat from Iran to target financial institutions in the region.
Smoke billows from Zayed port after an Iranian attack,
Smoke billows from Zayed port after an Iranian attack, in Abu Dhabi, UAE, March 1, 2026 [Abdelhadi Ramahi/Reuters]
  • Kuwait: Six electricity transmission lines in Kuwait went out of service after debris from intercepted drones fell on the infrastructure, the country’s Ministry of Electricity said on Thursday. Earlier, the Gulf country intercepted several drones, though one struck a residential building, wounding two people.
  • Espionage arrests: Bahrain’s Ministry of Interior said four Bahraini citizens were arrested on charges of spying for Iran’s IRGC.
  • Qatar Airways to resume flights: The airline said it will operate 29 flights to and from Doha on Thursday after receiving temporary government authorisation.
  • ‘Proud as a Qatari’: Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani praised the unity of citizens and residents during repeated Iranian attacks, pledging to keep daily life undisrupted.

In the US

  • ‘We’ve won’: The president said US strikes had already defeated Iran, telling reporters the country was “pretty much at the end of the line”. While declaring, “we’ve won … We won – in the first hour it was over.”
  • Iran welcome at World Cup: Trump said he would “welcome” Iran’s participation in the upcoming World Cup despite the war, the White House reported.
  • ‘Targeting error’ likely led to school strike: An Iranian school was likely hit by a US Tomahawk missile due to a targeting mistake, The New York Times reported, quoting US officials.
  • US war costs hit $11.3bn in 6 days: The opening week of the war cost the US military more than $11.3bn, lawmakers were told in a Pentagon briefing, according to reports.

In Israel

  • No time limit for operation: Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said the operation “will continue without any time limit, as long as required, until we achieve all objectives and win the campaign”.
  • Israeli soldiers wounded: The military says 14 Israeli soldiers have been injured since the war began, including six in southern Lebanon.
  • 179 injured in 24 hours: Israel’s Ministry of Health says 179 people were injured in the last 24 hours, with the majority of them being in “mild condition”.
  • ‘Large-scale’ Beirut strikes: The Israeli military said it began a “large-scale wave of strikes” on Hezbollah infrastructure in the Dahiyeh area.
  • Iran’s missiles detected: The Israeli military said it had detected missiles fired from Iran heading towards Israeli territory.

In Lebanon, Iraq

  • Strike on Beirut: The Lebanese Ministry of Health said seven people were killed and 21 injured in an Israeli attack on the seafront area of Beirut, where some displaced people have been sleeping out in the open.
  • Lebanon toll rises: The Lebanese government said the death toll in the war between Israel and Hezbollah was more than 630 people, while some 800,000 have registered as displaced.
  • Oil tankers attacked off Iraq: Two oil tankers were attacked off Iraq’s coast, government officials told the INA news agency. At least one crew member of a ship was killed and several were missing, while 38 people had been rescued.

Oil and energy

  • Maritime warfare and economic impact: The war continues to disrupt global trade, with oil prices climbing to $100 a barrel. In response, the International Energy Agency is releasing a record 400 million barrels of crude oil, with the US contributing 172 million barrels to calm markets.

Southeast Asia shuts offices, limits travel as oil crisis deepens

Taipei, Taiwan – Governments and businesses across Southeast Asia are scrambling to stave off energy shortages as the Strait of Hormuz remains shut to maritime traffic, amid the fallout of the United States-Israeli war on Iran.

Thousands of kilometres away from the Gulf, government offices in the Philippines have moved to a four-day work week, officials in Thailand and Vietnam have been encouraged to work from home and limit travel, and Myanmar’s government has imposed alternating driving days.

Recommended Stories

list of 4 itemsend of list

Governments are also intervening directly in the market in an effort to stabilise fuel prices.

Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul announced a temporary price cap on diesel, while Vietnam said it had started tapping into its fuel price stabilisation fund, according to state media.

The measures are just a preview of what is to come in the region if the Strait remains closed, according to Priyanka Kishore, director and principal economist at Asia Decoded in Singapore.

“They’re trying to manage the supply situation before it even comes close to hitting them,” Kishore told Al Jazeera.

Despite holding substantial amounts of fossil fuels, Southeast Asia relies heavily on imported oil and gas, much of which passes through the Strait of Hormuz.

About 84 percent of the crude oil and 83 percent of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) that passed through the Strait in 2024 was bound for Asia, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration.

China, India, Japan, and South Korea accounted for nearly 70 percent of oil shipments, with about 15 percent bound for the rest of Asia, according to the agency.

The Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia and Brunei are among the economies most exposed to crude oil disruptions, according to Alloysius Joko Purwanto, an economist at the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) in Jakarta.

The four nations rely on imports for 60-95 percent of their crude supply, he said, citing data from the Joint Organizations Data Initiative.

Members of a transport group, mostly jeepney drivers, hold a protest against oil price hike amid the U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran, near a gas station in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines, March 9, 2026. REUTERS/Lisa Marie David
Members of a transport group, mostly jeepney drivers, hold a protest against rising fuel prices in Quezon City, Philippines, on March 9, 2026 [Lisa Marie David/Reuters]

Even oil-producing Indonesia relies on imports for more than one-third of its crude, he said.

The supply chain shock has drawn attention to the region’s limited energy reserves, which face growing strain every day the waterway remains closed.

Vietnam has announced plans to procure about 4 million barrels of crude oil from non-Middle Eastern countries.

Sam Reynolds, a researcher at the US-based Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, said that would be equivalent to just six days of consumption for the country,

Based on state media reports that the country has reserves for 20 days, the country is at a “high risk of fuel shortages without more crude inflows”, Reynolds said.

Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy, maintains a fuel reserve of about 21-23 days, according to local media.

Thai Energy Minister Auttapol Rerkpiboon said last week that the country had reserves for 65 days, which the government would seek to supplement with supplies for an additional 30 days.

The Philippines holds reserves for 50-60 days, but in privately owned commercial inventories, leaving Manila to rely on “excise tax cuts for petroleum products, additional imports by the Philippines National Oil Company, and ad hoc appeals to private companies for releases”, Reynolds said, referring to the state-run oil company.

“All countries are scrambling to replace disrupted supplies, but short-term alternatives are limited by refinery configurations and operational risks of using different crude grades, as well as shipping distances and costs,” Reynolds told Al Jazeera.

Southeast Asian countries’ emergency stockpiles pale in comparison with those of their peers in northeast Asia.

Japan holds reserves for 254 days, while South Korea and China have stockpiles to last about 208 and 120 days, respectively.

Replacing dwindling crude oil supplies is just part of the challenge.

Economies must also supplement petroleum products that come from refining crude oil, such as gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and petrochemicals.

Motorists queue to pump gasoline into their vehicle and oil containers at a gas station in Hanoi on March 10, 2026. Vietnam announced on March 9 it was scrapping tariffs on fuel imports, as the US-Israeli war with Iran disrupts oil supplies and pushes prices to their highest level since 2022. (Photo by Nhac NGUYEN / AFP)
Motorists queue at a gas station in Hanoi, Vietnam, on March 10, 2026 [Nhac Nguyen/AFP]

Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar either lack or have limited oil refining capacity, forcing them to rely on exported products from neighbouring Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore, ERIA’s Joko said.

They will be under added stress as Asia’s oil refineries slow down and restrictions are placed on petroleum exports to conserve domestic oil supply, he said.

Thailand has already moved to ban oil exports, except to Cambodia and Laos. China, another major regional supplier, has also ordered state-owned companies to suspend fuel exports.

Amid the supply chain disruptions, petrochemical companies, including Singapore’s Aster Chemicals and Energy and Indonesia’s PT Chandra Asri Pacific, have started declaring force majeure, indicating that they may not be able to fulfil their contractual obligations.

On Tuesday, Thai petrochemicals firm Rayong Olefins, ‌a unit of Siam Cement Group, said it was suspending plant operations because it could not obtain key raw materials, such as naphtha and propane, amid the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

If disruptions persist, the region is likely to see higher prices and more restrictions placed on oil and gas use.

The Economist Intelligence Unit said in a research note on Wednesday that it expected global oil prices to average about US$80 per barrel in 2026, which, alongside elevated natural gas prices, “will raise inflation and lower growth across much of Asia”.

Kishore from Asia Decoded said the region could be looking at the prospect of a recession if the situation did not improve in the coming weeks.

“In three weeks, or maybe even in two weeks, we will be hearing a lot more about it,” she said.