Updated by Faith Barbara N Ruhinda at 1149 EAT on Wednesday 4 March 2026

In the Lebanese capital, a hotel in Hazmieh appeared to sustain a direct hit — a notable development given the area lies outside the Hezbollah strongholds in Beirut’s southern suburbs that have been the primary focus of earlier Israeli strikes.
Further east in the Bekaa Valley, the escalation in Israel’s air campaign was underscored when strikes on the city of Baalbek killed at least four people and wounded many others, according to local rescue services.

Meanwhile, along Lebanon’s southern border with Israel, thousands of residents are fleeing after the Israeli military issued urgent evacuation orders covering dozens of towns and villages.

The affected areas are believed to be locations from which Hezbollah has been firing rockets toward northern Israel, including — according to the group — at an Israeli naval base in Haifa.

A large explosion has been reported in eastern Tehran, according to Iranian state media and an AFP reporter in the city.

The development comes as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says its air force has launched “broad-scale strikes” against regime-linked targets in the Iranian capital.

New images are emerging from Lebanon, where Israel has resumed airstrikes.
Israel says the strikes are targeting sites linked to the Iran-backed group Hezbollah. The Israeli military again warned civilians in southern parts of the capital, Beirut, to evacuate earlier today.

Local health officials say dozens of people have been killed in Lebanon since the latest Israeli attacks began.

Iranian state media reports that a funeral ceremony will be held in Tehran today for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Khamenei was killed when US–Israeli attacks began on Saturday. The ceremony is scheduled to start at 18:30 GMT and will continue for three days ahead of the funeral procession, according to state media.

The New York Times, citing Iranian officials, reports that Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, has emerged as the frontrunner to become the next supreme leader, with a decision potentially coming as early as this morning.

Israel’s Defence Minister, Israel Katz, said any successor who continues what he described as plans to destroy Israel, threaten the United States, or suppress the Iranian people would be “an unequivocal target for elimination.”

Sri Lanka’s navy and air force have been deployed to rescue Iranian sailors after their vessel began sinking near the island, authorities said.

Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath told parliament that a distress signal from the vessel IRIS Dena was received at dawn. There were reportedly about 180 people on board.

Herath said 30 injured sailors had been transported to a hospital in the southern port city of Galle.

The cause of the sinking remains unknown. An opposition lawmaker asked whether the ship had been bombed as part of the recent US–Israeli attacks on Iran, but officials have not issued a response.

Qatar has been targeted by two Iranian ballistic missiles, its defence ministry said.
One of the missiles was intercepted by Qatar’s air defence systems, while the other struck the US air base at Al Udeid Air Base — the largest American military installation in the region.

Israel has struck dozens of military targets across Tehran, the Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said.

The strikes targeted the headquarters of the Basij — a paramilitary group linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards — as well as missile launch sites, air defence systems and what the IDF described as the regime ground forces’ supply and logistics directorate.

Adraee said the IDF would continue to “intensify its strikes” against Iranian regime infrastructure.

Since US–Israeli strikes began on Saturday, Iran has carried out a wave of attacks against US bases and allied targets across the region.

Footage verified by BBC Verify shows the US consulate in Dubai ablaze after a drone strike on Tuesday evening.

One clip, filmed from a nearby junction, appears to capture the moment a drone crashes into the compound. Another shows flames burning within the facility as thick plumes of black smoke rise into the sky.

Speaking to reporters late Tuesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that a drone hit a “parking lot” adjacent to the consulate’s chancery building.

“All personnel are accounted for,” Rubio said, adding that US diplomatic missions are “under direct attack from a terrorist regime.”

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have issued an urgent evacuation notice for civilians in parts of southern Beirut, saying they are continuing to target buildings linked to Hezbollah.

IDF Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said residents of the Haret Hreik neighbourhood should leave the area “immediately.”

The US military says it has struck nearly 2,000 targets in Iran since launching its joint bombing campaign with Israel. Iran, in turn, has fired more than 500 ballistic missiles and over 2,000 drones, according to US figures.

Washington and Israel continue to deploy heavy firepower against Iranian targets. In a video statement, Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of US Central Command, said the first 24 hours of the joint operation were nearly twice the scale of the “shock and awe” strikes that opened the US-led Iraq War in 2003.

The mission has involved more than 50,000 troops, 200 fighter jets, two aircraft carriers and strategic bombers — what Cooper described as “the largest US build-up in the Middle East in a generation”.

He said American forces had destroyed 17 Iranian vessels, effectively wiping out Iran’s navy. The focus now, he added, is “on shooting all the things that can shoot at us”.

The United States and Israel say they have targeted Iran’s air defence systems as well as hundreds of ballistic missiles, launchers and drones.

In recent hours, Israel said it was carrying out “a broad wave of strikes” inside Iran while simultaneously attacking Hezbollah positions in Lebanon. The Israeli military also reported intercepting additional missiles fired from Iran and Lebanon.

Source: BBC

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