RIYAHD, Saudi Arabia – The Middle East conflict escalated on Tuesday as fresh strikes were reported across the region, including Israeli bombardment on Lebanon and a drone attack on the United States embassy in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh.
The conflict, which started with US and Israeli strikes on Iran over the weekend and sparked retaliatory Iranian attacks across the region, showed no sign of abating as it entered its fourth day.
Two drones hit the US embassy in the Saudi Arabian capital and sparked a fire, a Saudi defence ministry spokesman said. Explosions were heard and clouds of smoke seen in Riyadh’s diplomatic quarter, home to foreign embassies and diplomats’ residences, four witnesses told AFP early Tuesday.
The embassy confirmed an attack and urged people to stay away, saying it would be closed on Tuesday.
In Qatar, the military intercepted two ballistic missiles early Tuesday, the country’s defence ministry said, after AFP reporters heard loud explosions across Doha.
Just after midnight local time Tuesday, Israel’s military said it was working to intercept a large wave of missiles launched from Iran targeting multiple locations, including Jerusalem.
“A short while ago, the IDF identified missiles launched from Iran toward the territory of the State of Israel. Defensive systems are operating to intercept the threat,” the military said.
It later said it was carrying out simultaneous strikes on Tehran and Beirut.
Israel’s military said Tuesday that it had launched strikes on Hezbollah targets including “command centres and weapons storage facilities” in Lebanon’s capital Beirut, after warning it would press ahead with its campaign against the Iran-backed group.
The Lebanese militant group said just after midnight that its rocket and drone attack on Israel was a “defensive act” after more than a year of Israeli strikes despite a ceasefire.
Israel’s military claimed it had “struck and dismantled” the headquarters of Iran’s state radio and television broadcaster, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), saying it had “called for the destruction of the State of Israel and for the use of nuclear weapons.”
The IRIB wrote on Telegram there had been explosions near its headquarters in Tehran but that there was no disruption to its operations.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) on Tuesday said there were 101 casualties inside Iran on the third day of the war, including “85 civilian deaths and 11 military personnel killed.”
President Donald Trump suggested Monday that the United States would retaliate “soon” after its embassy in the Saudi capital Riyadh was struck by the suspected Iranian drones.
Speaking to the NewsNation network, Trump said “you’ll find out soon” how the United States would respond, without providing further detail.
Trump signalled that US strikes on Iran could go much longer than originally predicted, as his administration sought to counter criticism about conflicting messages on the war’s goals.
In his first public comments since launching the military operation, the president laid out what he said were four key objectives for hitting Iran.
“First, we’re destroying Iran’s missile capabilities… Second, we’re annihilating their navy…Third, we’re ensuring that the world’s number-one sponsor of terror can never obtain a nuclear weapon,” Trump said.
The United States hit more than 1 250 targets in the first 48 hours of the war against Iran, the US military said.
Targets struck included command-and-control centres, ballistic missile sites, Iranian navy ships and submarines, and anti-ship missile sites, according to a fact sheet released by the US Central Command, which is responsible for American forces in the region.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States attacked Iran after learning that ally Israel was going to strike, which would have meant retaliation against US forces.
“We knew that if we didn’t pre-emptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties,” Rubio told reporters.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a Fox News interview Monday that the US-Israeli operation against Iran would be “a quick and decisive action,” later adding: “It may take some time, but it’s not going to take years.”
A general in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards threatened to “burn any ship” seeking to navigate the Strait of Hormuz, a vital route for oil and gas shipments.
“We will also attack oil pipelines and will not allow a single drop of oil to leave the region. Oil price will reach $200 in the coming days,” General Sardar Jabbari said in a post on the Guards’ Telegram channel.
The US State Department urged Americans to leave much of the Middle East, including Egypt and Gulf states, due to the US-Israeli war on Iran.
The State Department “urges Americans to DEPART NOW from the countries below using available commercial transportation, due to serious safety risks,” wrote Mora Namdar, the assistant secretary of state for consular affairs, in a social media post.
The countries or territories included in the warning were Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel and the Palestinian territories, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
The US State Department said in updated travel advisories on Tuesday that it has ordered non-emergency personnel to leave Bahrain, Jordan and Iraq for security reasons.
The department said it had ordered the families of its non-emergency staff in Bahrain and Jordan to also leave.
Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles said he could confirm reports that its military headquarters, the Al Minhad Air Base located just 24 km south of Dubai in the UAE, had been hit over the weekend.
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