09/03/2026

MONDAY | MAR 9, 2026

9

TEHRAN: Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said yesterday that they had launched missiles towards the Israeli cities of Tel Aviv and Bersheeva, as well as an airbase in Jordan. “The 28th wave of the Operation Honest Promise 4 was launched by the next-generation missiles of the Guards aerospace force against the areas of Beersheva, Tel Aviv and Jordan’s Al-Azraq airbase,” the Guards said in a statement, according to state TV. The Israeli military said it had struck “a number of fuel storage facilities in Tehran” that were used “to operate military infrastructure”. It also launched a new wave of strikes “across Tehran” yesterday, after carrying out a precision strike targeting “key commanders” in the Quds Force, the foreign operations arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, at a hotel in an area of central Beirut popular with tourists. Lebanon’s Health Ministry said the strike killed at least four people at the hotel, where an AFP photographer saw shattered windows and charred walls. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to press on with the war against Iran “with all our force”, with a plan to eradicate the country’s leadership. Despite the threat, the Revolutionary Guards said yesterday that the Islamic republic’s forces could wage an “intense war” for six months at the current speed of fighting. Guards spokesman Ali Mohammad Naini said Iran had so far used “first and second generation” missiles, but will use “advanced and less-used long-range missiles” in the coming days. The widening reach of the war and Iran’s ability to inflict damage and harm were underscored by US President Donald Trump attending the return of six American service members killed in a drone strike on a US base in Kuwait last Sunday. Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani accused the Trump administration of seeking to replicate a scenario similar to Venezuela where it ousted leader Nicolas Maduro. “Their perception was that it would be like Venezuela – they would strike, take control and it would be over – but now they are trapped,” he said in an interview broadcast on state TV. – AFP OSLO: The US embassy in Oslo was hit by an explosion early yesterday but no one was injured, police in the Norwegian capital said, adding the cause was not immediately known. The explosion occurred around 1am local time (8am in Malaysia), the Oslo police department said. Public broadcaster NRK quoted police incident commander Michael Dellemyr saying the blast hit the entrance of the embassy’s consular section. “There is minor damage,” he said. “We are not going to comment on anything related to the type of damage, what it is that has exploded and similar details, beyond the fact that there has been an explosion”. – AFP WEST BANK SETTLERS KILL TWO PALESTINIANS TEL AVIV: The Palestinian Health Ministry said yesterday that Israeli settlers shot dead two Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, the second deadly incident reported in as many days. A ministry statement said Thaer Faruq Hamayel, 24, and Farea Jawdat Hamayel, 57, were killed by settler fire in the town of Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah. It did not say when the incident occurred or provide further details. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. On Saturday, the Ramallah based Health Ministry and a local mayor said Israeli settlers shot dead a Palestinian man and wounded his brother in an attack on another West Bank village, Wadi al Rakhim. – AFP Missiles hit Israeli cities, Jordan base EXPLOSION ROCKS U.S. EMBASSY IN OSLO

First aid responders inspect a Ramada hotel room in Beirut. – AFPPIC

Kuwait airport, Bahrain desalination unit struck

plant earlier in the day. Bahrain’s national communication office later said the Iranian attack on a water desalination facility has had no impact on water supplies or network capacity. Falling missile debris also injured three people and damaged a university building in the Muharraq area, the Interior Ministry said in a separate statement. Saudi Arabia’s Defence Ministry said yesterday that it intercepted 33 drones, adding there were no reports of damage or casualties from the attacks. Among them was a drone targeting Riyadh’s diplomatic quarter, thwarted with no material damage or civilian injuries, the ministry’s spokesman said, adding the capital and surrounding areas were targeted by 26 drones. One drone targeted the Shaybah oil field in the southeast of the country, according to the ministry. The UAE said its air defences were responding to “incoming missile and drone threats from Iran”, while Qatar said 10 ballistic missiles and two cruise missiles fired from Iran the previous day were mostly intercepted without casualties. Dubai authorities said on Saturday that a Pakistani national had been killed by debris from an “aerial interception”. – AFP vote was not possible under current conditions. He said a candidate had been picked, based on the late supreme leader’s advice that Iran’s top leader should “be hated by the enemy” instead of praised by it. “Even the Great Satan (US) has mentioned his name,” Heidari Alekasir said of the chosen successor, days after President Donald Trump said that Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba, was an “unacceptable” choice for him. – Reuters

after loud explosions were heard in Dubai and Bahrain’s Manama a day earlier. Fuel tanks at Kuwait’s international airport were targeted in a drone attack, the military said. The official Kuwait News Agency said a fire at the airport was brought under control, reporting no “significant injuries”. The military called the drone attack “a direct targeting of vital infrastructure”. A separate statement said “some civilian facilities sustained material damage as a result of falling fragments and debris from interception operations”. Kuwait’s national oil company announced a “precautionary” cut to its crude production, as the country’s military said yesterday that it had responded to several drone and missile attacks. Authorities said Kuwait’s main building for social security was targeted, causing material damage, and that it would not receive visitors there on Sunday. Bahrain’s Interior Ministry said yesterday that an Iranian drone attack damaged a water desalination plant, accusing Tehran of “randomly” targeting civilian infrastructure. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps said on Saturday that it had struck the United States’ Juffair base in Bahrain, adding it had been used to attack an Iranian desalination of Experts said its members would meet “within one day” to choose the leader. Iranian media said the group had a minor disagreement over whether their final decision must follow an in-person meeting or instead be issued without adhering to this formality. Ayatollah Mohsen Heidari Alekasir, another member of the Assembly of Experts, said in a video released by Nournews yesterday that an in-person meeting by the assembly for a final

o Iran keeps up Gulf attacks

KUWAIT Gulf infrastructure yesterday, hitting fuel tanks at Kuwait’s international airport and damaging a desalination plant in Bahrain as Tehran pressed its missile and drone campaign against its neighbours into a second week. Two border guards were also killed “while performing their national duty”, Kuwait’s Interior Ministry said without elaborating on the circumstances. Neighbouring countries have borne much of Tehran’s response after the US and Israel launched a massive air campaign against Iran, with 16 people, eight of them civilians, killed in the Gulf states since the war began, according to an AFP tally. Iran President Massoud Pezeshkian warned yesterday that the Islamic republic “will be forced to respond” against neighbouring countries if their territory is used to attack it. On Saturday the president had apologised to neighbouring countries hosting US military bases for attacks on their territory. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait all reported new attacks, CITY: Iran struck DUBAI: The clerical body that will choose Iran’s next supreme leader, succeeding the slain Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has more or less reached a majority consensus, Assembly of Experts member Ayatollah Mohammadmehdi Mirbaqeri said yesterday. The Mehr news agency quoted him as saying “some obstacles” still needed to be resolved regarding the process. On Saturday, a senior cleric in the Assembly

BR I E F S

Consensus reached on next supreme leader