04/03/2026

WEDNESDAY | MAR 4, 2026

9

Netanyahu sees quick end

‘NO PROOF IRAN WAS DEVELOPING NUKES’ MOSCOW: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said yesterday that Moscow had still seen no evidence that Iran was developing nuclear weapons. Lavrov told Brunei’s foreign minister during talks in Moscow: “We still see no evidence that Iran was developing nuclear weapons, which was the main, if not the only, justification for the war.” He said the consequences of the attack on Iran were being felt throughout the region, and that Arab countries were bearing economic costs and suffering casualties. He reiterated Russia’s call for an immediate cessation of hostilities by all parties: “As an unconditional first step, we must do everything possible to stop any actions that result in civilian casualties.” – Reuters PUTIN WILL CONVEY ARAB CONCERNS MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin will convey to Iran concerns among Arab leaders about Tehran’s strikes on oil infrastructure, the Kremlin said yesterday. Putin held a flurry of phone calls on Monday with four Gulf leaders, offering to use Moscow’s ties to Tehran, with which it has a strategic partnership, to try and defuse tensions. “Putin will make every effort to contribute to at least a slight easing of tensions,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “Discussions with all of his interlocutors focused on Putin conveying his deep concern about the strikes on their infrastructure to our colleagues in Iran, taking advantage of the dialogue we maintain with the leadership.” – Reuters

spread to Lebanon, where Iran’s Hezbollah allies fired on Israel, which responded with air strikes and reinforcements of ground positions in the south. Thick black smoke blanketed Beirut as the sound of explosions rumbled in the air. Authorities said dozens were killed. Iran said its death toll from the attacks had reached 787, citing the Red Crescent. State media showed hundreds packing the streets of the southern city of Minab to mourn scores of pupils killed in the bombing of a girls’ school on the war’s first day. While Israeli officials explicitly say they want to overthrow Iran’s government, US officials have said the war’s aim is to destroy Iran’s

there was no firm deadline to achieve it. But the Israeli military was going through its target list faster than planned, with early success killing Iran’s leaders and taking out its defences, the source said. Israel was also accelerating its campaign out of concern that Washington might agree with Iran’s surviving leaders to stop before Israel’s objectives were realised, the source said. Inside Iran, Israel struck the Tehran headquarters of the state broadcaster IRIB. Europe’s benchmark STOXX 600 index fell 3% in early trading, after a 1.7% drop on Monday. A 2% fall in US stock futures suggested the selloff might reach Wall Street later. Since Monday, the war has

ability to project force beyond its borders. But Trump has also urged Iranians to topple the clerical leadership. Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill on Monday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US attacked Iran after determining that Israel was on the verge of launching its own strike. Washington believed any Israeli attack would prompt Iran to retaliate against US interests. “We knew that if we didn’t preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties,” Rubio said. Netanyahu said on Monday the war was “not going to take years”. Trump suggested it could take four or five weeks. But both avoided giving any firm timeframe. – Reuters

o Explosions in Tehran and Beirut

BR I E F S

DUBAI: Explosions tore through Tehran and Beirut yesterday and financial markets around the world slid. A day after President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave open ended answers when asked how long the war would last, a source told Reuters that Israel’s campaign had been planned to last two weeks and was moving faster than expected. The source, familiar with Israel’s war plan, said its aim was to overthrow Iran’s clerical rulers and

France deploys jets over UAE

PARIS: France has deployed Rafale fighter jets over the United Arab Emirates to protect its naval and air bases against Iranian attacks, Foreign Minister Jean Noel Barrot said yesterday. France has hundreds of navy, air force and army personnel based in the UAE. Its Rafale aircraft are stationed at Al-Dhafra base near Abu Dhabi. “These Rafales and their pilots are mobilised to ensure the security of our facilities,” Barrot told broadcaster BFMTV in response to a question on French action in the UAE over the weekend to neutralise Iranian drones. “They have carried out operations to secure the airspace above our bases.” On Sunday, “a hangar at a French base in the United Arab Emirates was hit by a drone”, Barrot said. “Exchanges are multiplying to determine both how the country can defend itself against future attacks and how France can protect its interests,” he said. France’s Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier was however in the North Atlantic, as part of a previously planned exercise, Barrot said, after he was asked if it had been sent to the Mediterranean. To the best of his knowledge, it had not changed course, he said. Debris from a drone interception caused a fire that was contained at an oil industry zone in the Fujairah emirate yesterday, authorities said. Amazon said late on Monday that two of its data centres in the UAE were struck by drones, disrupting cloud services in parts of the Middle East. – AFP

Lebanon sucked deeper into war pro-Hezbollah al-Akhbar newspaper yesterday condemned this as a “capitulation to dictates, which could even lead to the outbreak of civil war”. Towers of smoke rose from the southern suburbs of Beirut as Israel launched new airstrikes. Smoke rises from the site of an airstrike on the southern suburbs of Beirut yesterday. – AFPPIC

BEIRUT: Lebanon was pulled deeper into the war yesterday as Hezbollah launched missiles at Israel for a second consecutive day and Israel sent troops into the south and carried out airstrikes. Israel’s neighbour to the north and the theatre of numerous conflicts between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon had avoided spillover from the US-Israeli attack on Iran until Monday, when Hezbollah opened fire with drones and missiles. With dozens of people killed in retaliatory airstrikes, Hezbollah’s move to enter the conflict has sharpened divisions in Lebanon over its status as an armed group – the only Lebanese faction to keep its weapons after the 1975-90 civil war. The government on Monday took the unprecedented step of outlawing Hezbollah’s military activities. The

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said rockets fired at Israel on Monday from Lebanon came from outside the southern border zone where the army declared its control in January. The Lebanese Health Ministry on Monday reported that 52 people had been killed in Israeli attacks in Lebanon and more than 150 wounded. It has not issued an update on Tuesday. Overnight, an Israeli airstrike hit the headquarters of Hezbollah’s al Manar TV in Beirut. The Israeli military reported more airstrikes in Beirut on Tuesday, saying it had hit “command centres, weapons storage facilities, and satellite communication components belonging to Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters in Beirut”. “These assets were operating under civilian cover,” it said. – Reuters

night ordered residents of the entire border strip of southern Lebanon to evacuate. A Lebanese security source said Israeli troops were carrying out incursions along some parts of the border. Witnesses said the Lebanese army had pulled out of at least seven forward positions along the border. Israel kept some troops in the south at several hilltop positions following a ceasefire in the 2024 war. The south has long been a key Hezbollah stronghold, where it has drawn political support and deployed weaponry ahead of the 2024 conflict. The Lebanese army has moved into the area and seized its weapons caches since that conflict. Hezbollah announced three attacks yesterday using attack drones and missiles and said these had targeted military facilities.

The Israeli military said it had deployed additional forces to southern Lebanon overnight, saying this was to take up defensive positions to guard against any potential Hezbollah attack. “We’re only at the border line area in a defensive manner to prevent attacks against civilians and strategic important points,” Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said. Defence Minister Israel Katz said he had authorised the military to advance and take control of additional positions. The Israeli military on Monday