Conflict spreads to Lebanon and US jets shot down in Kuwait: what we know so far on day three of Iran war
US and Gulf states warn Iran’s ‘reckless’ strikes threaten regional stability; sites in UAE and Saudi Arabia hit
A joint statement by Gulf states and the US condemned Iran’s “indiscriminate and reckless missile and drone attacks” across the Middle East and warned that the strikes threatened regional stability.
The statement said attacks had taken place in Bahrain, Iraq (including the Kurdistan region), Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
A new front in the war, started by Israel and the US on Saturday, opened on Monday when Hezbollah launched missiles and drones towards Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Israeli airstrikes on Beirut and southern Lebanon on Monday have killed at least 31 people and injured 149, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
The Iranian Red Crescent Society said at least 555 people had been killed in Iran by Israel-US attacks across 131 cities since Saturday.
The US’s allies in the Gulf states came under renewed attack from Iranian missiles and drones. There were loud blasts in Dubai and al-Samha, near Abu Dhabi, in the UAE, and in Doha, the capital of Qatar. Saudi Arabia shut its biggest oil refinery after drone strikes caused a fire.
Kuwait air defences mistakenly shot down three US F-15 fighter jets flying in Iran-related operations, the US Central Command (Centcom) said on Monday. All six crew members ejected safely, were safely recovered and in stable condition.
In Cyprus, two drones heading for a UK base were intercepted, after an earlier attack on Sunday night.
The mass evacuation of cities across the Middle East could be necessary if civil nuclear power stations are attacked, causing radiological release, said Rafael Grossi, the director general of the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency.
Grossi said there was no indication that any of Iran’s nuclear installations had been damaged or hit after the recent US and Israeli strikes.