10/03/2026

TUESDAY | MAR 10, 2026

9

Khamenei’s son takes charge

BLAST DAMAGES BELGIAN SYNAGOGUE LIEGE: An explosion hit a synagogue in the Belgian city of Liege early yesterday. No injuries were reported. The explosion blew out the windows of the synagogue, as well as those of a building on the opposite side of the road, public broadcaster RTBF said. The cause was not clear, but prosecutors said the case had been passed to federal authorities, which normally investigate incidents linked to terrorism or organised crime. Belgian Interior Minister Bernard Quintin called the explosion “a despicable antisemitic act that directly targeted the Jewish community of Belgium”. He said security measures around similar sites will continue to be reinforced. – Reuters SINGAPORE DEPLOYS TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT SINGAPORE: A Singapore Air Force transport aircraft will be deployed to help Singaporeans return from Saudi Arabia, said Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Trade and Industry Gan Siow Huang. She said Singapore will arrange a third repatriation flight from Riyadh today and a fourth on Thursday to assist Singaporeans in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia to return home. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Defence Ministry said in a joint statement the flight serves solely to support assisted departure operations. The flight from Muscat, Oman landed safely in Singapore on Sunday. – Bernama QATAR ARRESTS 313 FOR SHARING FOOTAGE DOHA: Qatari authorities have arrested more than 300 people for sharing images and what they described as “misleading information”. Those arrested “filmed and circulated video clips and published misleading information and rumours that could stir public opinion”, a Interior Ministry statement said. The detainees of “various nationalities” were held by the Department for Combating Economic and Cyber Crimes at the ministry’s General Directorate of Criminal Investigations. In Bahrain, four people were arrested on Friday for“filming and broadcasting clips and spreading false news”. And in Kuwait, authorities on Saturday said three people had been arrested over a video showing them mocking the situation in the country. – AFP LEAVE UAE, AUSTRALIA TELLS DIPLOMATS’ KIN SYDNEY: Australia has asked the family members and dependants of diplomatic officials in the United Arab Emirates to leave the country. Foreign Minister Penny Wong said: “We continue to advise Australians not to travel to the UAE. More than 1,700 Australians have arrived in Australia so far on commercial flights from the UAE.” About 115,000 Australians were in the Middle East when the conflict began 10 days ago. Australia, a close US ally, has said it would not deploy troops to the Middle East if the conflict escalates, but suggested on Sunday it was considering requests to help protect countries from Iranian drones and missiles. – AFP

Few expect major changes in Iran’s stance under the younger Khamenei, a trained cleric close to Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The Guards quickly pledged support for the new leader, who comes into the role with far less experience than his father, saying they were “ready for complete obedience and self-sacrifice in carrying out the divine commands”. “I am so happy that he is our new leader. It was a slap in the face to our enemies

Lebanon’s south, east and Beirut’s southern suburbs. Israel launched at least three strikes yesterday on Beirut’s south, according to National News Agency and AFP correspondents. Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war last week when Hezbollah attacked Israel in response to the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Israel, which had kept up strikes targeting Hezbollah even before the war despite a 2024 ceasefire, launched attacks last week across who was killed in the first wave of US-Israeli strikes, is considered a fellow hardliner. US President Donald Trump had previously dismissed Mojtaba Khamenei as a “lightweight”, and insisted again on Sunday on ABC News before the announcement that: “If he doesn’t get approval from us he’s not going to last long.” After similar threats from Israel, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman warned that Beijing opposes targeting leaders and insists “Iran’s sovereignty, security and territorial integrity should be respected.” In a sign that the United States does not expect a quick end to the war, the State Department ordered non-emergency staff to leave Saudi Arabia, days after a drone hit the US embassy. As questions swirl over the length and goals of the war, Trump told the Times of Israel that any decision on when to end hostilities will be a joint one with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “I think it’s mutual. We’ve been talking. I’ll make a decision at the right time, but everything’s going to be taken into account,” Trump said.

BEIRUT: Israel yesterday renewed its strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, Lebanese state media reported, after Israel warned it would target branches of a financial firm linked to Hezbollah. Footage on AFPTV’s live broadcast showed large plumes of smoke rising from the area, where the group holds sway. Earlier yesterday, the Israeli military warned it would strike branches of Al-Qard al-Hassan, a financial firm mainly operating in Hezbollah strongholds across TEHRAN: the appointment of Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei to replace his father as its supreme leader with a new barrage of missiles against Israel and the Gulf states yesterday. Iranian state media said the Assembly of Experts, Tehran’s top clerical body, did not hesitate in choosing a new leader despite “the brutal aggression of the criminal America and the evil Zionist regime”, then showed a missile ready for launch bearing the slogan “At your command, Sayyid Mojtaba”. Following strikes on Bahrain’s sprawling Al Ma’ameer oil facility that ignited a fire and material damage, the country’s state-owned energy company Bapco joined its counterparts in Qatar and Kuwait in declaring force majeure : a warning that events beyond its control may lead it to miss export targets. The younger Khamenei, appointed to replace the cleric who led Iran for nearly four decades and o China opposes targeting of leaders Iran marked

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who thought the system will collapse with the death of his father,” said Zahra Mirbagheri, 21, from Tehran. – AFP

Mojtaba Khamenei is considered a hardliner. – OFFICE OF THE IRANIAN SUPREME LEADER/WANA HANDOUT/REUTERSFILEPIC

Israel strikes Beirut’s southern suburbs

Hezbollah said earlier yesterday it was fighting Israeli forces who landed in eastern Lebanon by helicopter across the Syrian border, the second such operation since the outbreak of the latest conflict. Hezbollah said it detected “the infiltration of 15 Israeli helicopters” from the Syrian side of the border in eastern Lebanon. The group said its fighters “engaged the helicopters and the infiltrating force with appropriate weapons, and the confrontation” was ongoing. – AFP

Lebanon and sent ground troops into border areas. Roads leading to one of Al-Qard al-Hassan’s branches in Beirut were closed yesterday, according to witnesses. In Lebanon’s southern city of Sidon, an area outside of Hezbollah’s traditional strongholds, an AFP correspondent saw ambulances and civil defence vehicles gather around another branch. Israel also bombed the firm’s branches during its last war with Hezbollah in 2024.

Smoke plumes billowing from Beirut’s southern suburbs yesterday. – AFPPIC