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”
Pakistan hosted the first round of face-to-face talks between the US and Iran in 47 years in April; the talks ended without a breakthrough, but also without a breakdown
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has said Washington and Islamabad are developing a “true friendship”, praising Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and CDF and COAS Field Marshal Asim Munir for their role in the US-Iran peace negotiations.
Responding to a question at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, he said, “I mentioned India here, but I very easily could have mentioned Pakistan and the role that the field marshal and the prime minister are playing in peace negotiations.
“I think an unexpected development and a true friendship [is] developing there, which I think is important,” he added.
Hegseth also reiterated the US and Pakistan’s stance of President Donald Trump brokering a ceasefire between Pakistan and India during the May 2025 conflict.
“I think both sides are going to see understandable threats coming from the other, maybe some of which we see differently, and countries are going to want to develop ICBM threats,” he said, clarifying that Washington was not “pointing a finger” at either country right now or terming either of them a threat to the US.
Hezbollah has said that it launched an operation this morning, involving an ambush on a group of Israeli soldiers who attempted to advance towards Ghandouriyeh in Lebanon’s Nabatieh district, Al Jazeera reports.
Hezbollah said it detonated explosive devices at the Israeli forces and shelled them with rockets, claiming that the ambush resulted in injuries among Israeli soldiers.
The group said that in retaliation for Israeli attacks, it also launched several rockets on northern Israel, specifically at the settlement of Kiryat Shmona, Israel’s northernmost city.
Citing Israel’s Ynet outlet, Al Jazeera said sirens were heard throughout the night and that several rockets were intercepted.
Hezbollah also claimed to have struck down an Israeli Hermes 450 drone in the sky over the town of Zotar al-Sharqiya with a surface-to-air missile.
Qatar opposes permanent legal fees for transit through the Strait of Hormuz, but a temporary toll is negotiable and could help restore normal passage through the key waterway, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defence Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani has said, Bloombergreports.
A permanent fee would impact consumers and Qatar objects to any move to impose them, Sheikh Saoud said at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. However, short-term charges used for mine clearing or similar purposes can be considered, he was quoted as saying.
Mohsen Rezaei, a military adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, has said that the US President Donald Trump is “betraying diplomacy for the third time” by continuing “naval blockade and adopting increasingly excessive demands in negotiations”.
In a post on social media platform X, Rezaei said the US president has also “demonstrated that he is not genuinely interested in negotiations and is pursuing other objectives”.
The Lebanese government has established approximately 600 shelters across the country, including facilities in schools, government buildings, and other public sites. However, officials say these shelters have reached maximum capacity, according to Al Jazeera.
Large numbers of displaced people have taken refuge in public parks and makeshift tent settlements. In the capital, Beirut, hundreds of displaced residents have formed small communities across various neighbourhoods, struggling to meet their basic needs as the crisis deepens.
People set up tents at the Beirut waterfront, in Beirut, Lebanon, May 21, 2026. —Reuters
Three people have been killed and over a dozen injured by Israeli air strikes, as attacks escalate in southern Lebanon, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reports.
Two of them were identified as a father and son: Zuhair Ahmad Hashim and his son Ali, who were killed in an air strike by Israeli forces in the early hours of Saturday morning at their home in the Al-Marj neighbourhood of Ansar, north of Tyre. Seven other family members were also injured, Lebanon’s NNA said.
The Israeli military has issued another forced displacement order to residents of Jdeidet Ansar, Zrariyeh, Mazraat Kauthariyet el-Rez and Mashgharah, towns located in southern Lebanon between Sidon and Tyre, and in the Bekaa Valley, Al Jazeera reports.
The warning called on civilians to leave immediately and move north of the Zahrani River, just south of Sidon, as Israeli forces are escalating their attacks beyond their so-called security buffer zone.
An Iranian ballistic missile strike on a Kuwaiti air base “within the past 24 hours caused minor injuries to several Americans and seriously damaged two MQ-9 Reaper strike drones”, Bloombergreports, citing unnamed sources.
“Kuwaiti air defences intercepted the Fateh-110 missile, but falling debris struck the Ali Al Salem air base,” the report said, citing a person with direct knowledge of the attack, who requested anonymity.
The report comes after Iran on Thursday said it targeted a US airbase in retaliation for US strikes on an Iranian drone operation. While Iran had not provided details on the location of the base, Kuwait had condemned a drone-and-missile attack that it said Iran carried out.
Israel has issued a new forced displacement order for residents of Mayfadoun, Choukine, and Zebdine in the Nabatieh district of southern Lebanon, Al Jazeera reports.
In a post on X, the Israeli military warned all residents to “evacuate your homes immediately and move north of the Zahrani River”, which is located some 40km from Lebanon’s border with Israel.
The Israeli military has claimed it intercepted a “launch” that crossed into northern Israel from Lebanon, without providing further details on the object, according to Al Jazeera.
The military also did not say whether any damage or casualties resulted from the attack, which followed after air raid sirens were activated across several areas in Israel’s north earlier.
In a separate statement, the military said its forces had destroyed a Hezbollah launcher overnight after rockets were fired towards the north of the country.
The leader of Italy’s lower house of Parliament, Lorenzo Fontana, has appreciated Pakistan’s constructive role in promoting peace, dialogue, and diplomatic engagement during the ongoing tensions in the Gulf region, the National Assembly’s official account posted on X.
“In his letter to Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, the president of the Chamber of Deputies acknowledged Pakistan’s efforts for de-escalation, regional stability, and peaceful solutions in these challenging times,” it said.
“This recognition from the Italian Parliament reflects the international community’s respect for Pakistan’s principled commitment to peace and diplomacy and is a proud moment for the entire nation,” it added.
Australia has extended a measure that releases petrol and diesel from domestic reserves, Energy Minister Chris Bowen said, as the country continues to grapple with the impact of the Iran war on energy supplies, Reuters reports.
The measure — a 20 per cent temporary reduction to fuel companies’ minimum stockholding obligations, freeing up to 762 million litres of petrol and diesel — has been extended until September.
It was first introduced in March to help counter fuel shortages, particularly in regional areas, and was due to expire in July.
“I’ve reached a judgement that it’s best to provide that ongoing flexibility,” Bowen said in televised remarks.
The US is ready to restart attacks on Iran if a deal cannot be reached, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said, as negotiators from Washington and Tehran worked to bridge major differences blocking an agreement, according to Reuters.
“Our ability to recommence if necessary…we are more than capable,” Hegseth said in Singapore.
“Our stockpiles are more than suited for that, both there and around the globe, so we’re in a very good place,” he added.
Hegseth, speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s premier forum for defence leaders, militaries and diplomats, said the US has not turned its back on the Asia-Pacific region despite being engaged in conflict with Iran.
Israeli forces are blowing up residential homes in the town of Dibbine, located in the Marjayoun district of southern Lebanon, AlJazeera Arabic reports.
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said that Washington remains committed to its international security priorities, explicitly declaring that “we still have global obligations to ensure that, say, Iran doesn’t get a nuclear weapon”, AlJazeera reports.
Hegseth made the remark during the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore.
US Central Command (Centcom) has said that “US forces remain present and vigilant across the [Middle East] region”, AlJazeera reports.
In a post on social media platform X, the Centcom also shared a photograph of an F-16 fighter jet it said was flying “over the Middle East during a patrol”.
The Israeli military said that it had intercepted several projectiles launched from Lebanon, where it is fighting Hezbollah, but that one had hit near a town in northern Israel, AFP reports.
“Several projectiles launched from Lebanon toward Israeli territory were identified,” the military said in a statement, adding no injuries had been reported.
“The majority of the projectiles were intercepted, and a hit was identified in the area of Kiryat Shmona,” it said.
The United States announced that it is “dismantling a sophisticated Iranian network” used to obtain sensitive military technology, AFP reports.
The network “impersonated and defrauded” dozens of American technology companies out of millions of dollars to “acquire advanced equipment — including spectrum analyzers and security detection devices — for Iran’s defense sector,” State Department Tommy Pigott said in a statement.
The statement did not name the technology companies who were lured into doing business through fake websites that “mimicked real American companies, using intermediaries in Dubai to receive shipments, and then smuggling the technology into Iran in violation of US sanctions”.
The United States has more than sufficient stockpiles of weapons and is “more than capable” of resuming the war with Iran, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said in Singapore, AFP reports.
“Our ability to recommence if necessary is (that) we are more than capable, our stockpiles are more than suited for that, both there and around the globe because of how we balance exquisite and more plentiful munitions,” Hegseth told Asia’s premier defence summit.
