The US and Israel on Feb 28 launched what they described as a “pre-emptive” joint strike against Iranian targets, with Trump announcing start of “major combat operations”
Police in the United Arab Emirates have said they have arrested over 100 people for filming and posting “misleading” information during the Middle East war, as Gulf countries crack down on footage and posts related to Iran’s attacks.
“Abu Dhabi Police announced the arrest of 109 individuals of various nationalities who filmed sites and incidents and circulated incorrect information via social media platforms during current events,” it said in a statement on X, adding that some of the people had shared “misleading information”.
Switzerland has said it would not issue licences for companies to export weapons to the United States due to the ongoing attacks on Iran, citing its neutrality, Reuters reports.
“The export of war materiel to countries involved in the international armed conflict with Iran cannot be authorised for the duration of the conflict,” the government said in a statement.
“Exports of war materiel to the USA cannot currently be authorised,” it added.
The United States and Israel have struck 16 Iranian cargo vessels in port towns on the Gulf on Friday, local media reports as per AFP, saying the ships were burnt.
“Following the American-Zionist air attack, at least 16 cargo vessels belonging to citizens of the towns of Bandar Lengeh and Bandar Kong were completely burnt in the fire,” a local offical from the southern Hormozgan province said, quoted by the Tasnim news agency.
Israel’s military has said it was launching strikes in Iran’s Nur region on the shores of the Caspian Sea, as it kept up its bombing campaign after almost three weeks of war.
“The IDF has begun striking targets belonging to the Iranian terror regime,” the army said in a statement.
The fresh strikes come after Israel’s military claimed yesterday its jets had hit several Iranian naval vessels in the Caspian Sea.
This screengrab shows Nur region (marked with red dotted lines) on the shores of Caspian Sea in northen Iran.
An Israeli warplane broke the sound barrier over Beirut in the morning, state media said, as AFP journalists heard loud booms reverberate across the city and in distant mountains.
Lebanon’s official National News Agency said “a strong sonic boom, in two successive waves, shook the skies over Beirut and its suburbs” on the morning of Eidul Fitr.
The incident set social media abuzz.
“On a day without shelling — so far — the Israelis are greeting the people of Beirut and its suburbs with two sonic booms,” one internet user, Salah Halawi, wrote on X.
A member of the French navy using an app to track his jogging performance broadcast the exact position of his country’s flagship aircraft carrier, Le Monde has reported.
According to Reuters, France deployed the Charles de Gaulle — and accompanying frigates — to the Mediterranean in early March. It has been in the eastern Mediterranean since March 9 as part of what Emmanuel Macron has called a “purely defensive” posture.
Le Monde reported that the runner jogged in circles on a ship in movement on March 13 in the middle of the sea northwest of Cyprus, according to his public profile on the Strava fitness tracking app, while satellite images showed the aircraft carrier was in the immediate vicinity at the time.
The same person had also been running in Copenhagen, Denmark, in late February, across a bridge from Malmo, Sweden, where the Charles de Gaulle was anchored at the time, Strava data showed.
The French armed forces told AFP appropriate measures would be taken if the report was true, as members of the navy were regularly reminded about the risk of security breaches using such apps.
Rafale and Super Etendards fighter jets are parked prior to a mission aboard France’s Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier sailing in the Gulf on January 28, 2016. — Reuters/File
The Trump administration is considering plans to occupy or blockade Iran’s Kharg Island to pressure Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, Axiosreports, citing four sources with knowledge of the issue.
“He wants Hormuz open. If he has to take Kharg Island to make it happen, that’s going to happen. If he decides to have a coastal invasion, that’s going to happen. But that decision hasn’t been made,” a senior administration official told Axios.
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has said he is working to keep his country away from the Middle East war, Al Jazeera reports, citing state media SANA.
In a speech delivered after the Eidul Fitr prayer in the presidential palace in Damascus, Sharaa said: “It is important to remember that Syria has always been an arena of conflict and strife during the past 15 years and before that, but today it is in harmony with all neighbouring countries regionally and internationally.”
“What is happening now is a major and rare event in history that we haven’t witnessed since World War II. We are carefully calculating our steps and working to keep Syria away from any conflict, so that it can maintain its path of development and reconstruction,” the president added.
Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa looks on as he attends the “Aleppo, Key to Victory” celebration marking Syria’s liberation, in Aleppo, Syria on May 27, 2025. — Reuters/File
The owner of an Israeli oil refinery hit by an Iranian missile strike has said that essential infrastructure was damaged in the attack, but that most production facilities are operating and the rest are being restarted, Reuters reports.
Oil Refineries Ltd said in a statement that there had been “localised hits” at its complex in Haifa, northern Israel, striking electrical infrastructure supplying a service facility and an open area adjacent to an administrative building.
There were no injuries or casualties, it said in a statement to the Tel Aviv stock exchange.
The essential infrastructure belongs to a third party, it said, and was expected to return to operations within a few days.
Oil Refineries Ltd did not identify the third party, specify how many production facilities were operating or when the production facilities were expected to return to full operations.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has called for de-escalation in the Gulf hostilities in a phone conversation with his Malaysian counterpart, Dato Seri Anwar bin Ibrahim.
“While praying for peace and harmony of the Ummah, the two leaders called for de-escalation of the ongoing hostilities in Iran and the Gulf region and agreed to continue to work together for advancing peace efforts in this regard,” the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said in a statement on X.
PM Shehbaz also felicitated the Malaysian premier, government and people on the occasion of Eidul-Fitr, while both leaders expressed satisfaction at the positive momentum in bilateral ties, the statement added.
More than a dozen Israeli drones have been shot down over Iran during the ongoing war, according to Israeli military officials, who claimed that losses were up to 20, reports Al Jazeera.
Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has described the F-35 US jet being hit as a “moment of collapse of an order”.
In a post on X, Ghalibaf said, “The F-35 was not just a fighter jet but a statue of the US military’s invincibility and arrogance. A theological symbol claimed to be invisible to any eye and superior to any power; but the hand of God is above their hands”.
“This symbol was struck for the first time in the world, yet God cast. And this was the moment of collapse of an order,” he added.
Italy is in talks with several countries, including the United States, Azerbaijan and Algeria, to secure additional gas supplies after deliveries from Qatar have stopped, Energy Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin said, according to Reuters.
Pichetto also said Italy agreed with the European Union that the bloc should not return to buying its gas from Russia.
Iran’s supreme leader has issued a message of condolence to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian following the killing of Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib earlier this week in an Israeli strike, Al Jazeera reports, citing Tasnim News Agency.
In a statement carried by the news agency, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei paid tribute to Khatib, describing him as a “hardworking minister of intelligence”.
The leader stressed that officials must step up efforts to fill the gap left by Khatib’s death, calling on the ministry to maintain security against “internal and external enemies”.
Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, the second son of late Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, attends a meeting in Tehran, Iran on October 13, 2024. — Reuters/File
Israeli police have claimed to have arrested an army reservist who served on the Iron Dome air defence system on suspicion of passing secrets to Iran, AFP reports.
“Raz Cohen, a 26-year-old resident of Jerusalem who served in the reserves in the Iron Dome system, was recently arrested on suspicion of committing security offenses involving contact with Iranian intelligence,” Israeli police said.
“Over the course of several months, the citizen maintained contact with Iranian intelligence operatives and, under their instructions, was asked to carry out various security missions, including passing on sensitive security information.”
According to Israeli rescue services and authorities, Iranian missile fire toward Israel has killed 15 civilians in the country since the start of the war.
China has called for uninterrupted oil supplies as the Israeli-US war on Iran threatens global energy markets, Al Jazeera reports.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian urged restraint but avoided naming countries. His comments followed signals from Washington that it may ease sanctions on Iranian oil stuck at sea to stabilise prices.
China’s foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian. — Photo courtesy MFA_China/X
Britain has so far avoided medicine shortages linked to the war in the Middle East, but soaring freight costs are squeezing generic drugmakers’ margins and could soon trigger price rises, supply shortages or both, trade group Medicines UK warns, according to Reuters.
Chief Executive Mark Samuels said Britain was “one step away” from medicine shortages if instability persisted, with stockpiles providing only a temporary buffer.
Israeli Ambassador to Russia Oded Joseph has been summoned by Russia’s Foreign Ministry in Moscow, “in connection with the Israeli airstrike on RT crew in Lebanon,” RT reports.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has told his British counterpart Yvette Cooper in a phone call that any US use of British bases would be seen as “participation in aggression” against the Islamic republic, AFP reports.
It was not clear when the call with Cooper took place.
“These actions will certainly be regarded as participation in aggression and will be recorded in the history of relations between the two countries,” said Araghchi, according to a statement released by the ministry.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said that their spokesman Ali Mohammad Naini was assassinated in US-Israeli strikes, AFP reports.
Naini “was martyred in the criminal, cowardly terrorist attack by the American-Zionist side at dawn”, the Guards said in a statement on their Sepah News website.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has strongly condemned the attacks on Azerbaijan and reaffirmed Pakistan’s “unwavering solidarity” with the country in conversation with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev.
“We agreed on the urgent need for de-escalation and resolution of tensions through dialogue and diplomacy, while reaffirming our shared commitment to further strengthening Pakistan-Azerbaijan brotherly ties,” the prime minister said in a post on X.
He said the two also exchanged “warm Eid-ul-Fitr greetings and best wishes” for each other’s countries.
New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued advice saying that people who travel to or through the Middle East “may not be able to leave if conflict escalates”.
The ministry added that it is “still advising New Zealanders who are in the region to leave now on a commercial flight while these remain available, if they can do so safely.”
