17/03/2026

TUESDAY | MAR 17, 2026

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Dubai airport flights disrupted

TEHRAN: Iran’s military has warned countries against cooperating with the London-based TV channel Iran International, saying media infrastructure used to support the channel would be placed on its list of targets. “The Zionist International Network, using the satellite capacity and media infrastructure of some countries in the region, is acting to create tension, create false narratives ... to help the goals of criminal America and the Zionist regime,” the operational command Khatam Al Anbiya said on Sunday. “We warn that if you continue to help this network, the elements of cooperation will be placed in the bank of targets of the Islamic Republic of Iran.” It was not immediately clear where the infrastructure used by the channel in the region was located. Iran has labelled Iran International a terror organisation since 2022 and said it was “affiliated with the Zionist regime”, warning that cooperation with the channel would be punishable. On Sunday, Iranian authorities announced the arrest of at least 18 people accused of sending images and information to the channel. – AFP Outlawed TV channel targeted PARIS: A Frenchman is to be tried in absentia accused of “genocide” in the first such trial in France over IS group crimes against the Yazidi minority. IS seized large swathes of Syria and Iraq in 2014, declaring a “caliphate”. In August of that year, they murdered thousands of Yazidi men in Iraq’s Sinjar province and took into Syria thousands of women and girls to sell them as sex slaves. UN investigators have since qualified these actions as “genocide”. Sabri Essid, a Frenchman born in 1984 and who joined IS in Syria in 2014, has been accused of buying several Yazidi women and then repeatedly raping them. He is presumed to have been killed in 2018, but without proof of his death, he is to be tried in absentia on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. Three women from the Yazidi community are civil parties in the trial. “Given that in the past IS fighters believed to be dead have resurfaced, it is essential that this trial take place,” said Patrick Baudouin, a lawyer for the Human Rights League. Attorney Clemence Bectarte, who represents the three women , said the trial must “provide another reading of IS crimes”, usually tried in France as terrorist offences. “It is essential that it shed light on the grave abuses committed against civilian populations and the genocidal policy implemented against the Yazidi population,” she said. After Essid headed to Syria, his wife, their three children and her son from a previous relationship joined him. In an IS propaganda video released in 2015, Essid is seen pushing his 12 year-old stepson to execute a Palestinian hostage with a bullet to the head. His wife, who has been jailed since returning to France, is to testify at the trial, which is set to last until Friday. A German court in 2021 issued the first ruling worldwide to recognise crimes against the Yazidi community as “genocide”. – AFP Frenchman to be tried for ‘genocide’

o One Palestinian killed in Abu Dhabi

many Gulf. Authorities said they had contained a fire that broke out and reported no injuries. Two witnesses told AFP they saw a thick plume of black smoke rising from the direction of the airport at around 10am Dubai time (2pm in Malaysia), hours after the incident. A witness at Dubai airport told AFP that passengers awaiting their flights had been evacuated to a lower floor after the attack for several hours. “It has been a difficult few weeks hearing explosions regularly, but the Iranian attacks followed me in my last hours before I could fly back home,” he said. The UAE airline Emirates said it expected to operate a “limited schedule” and that some flights had been cancelled. Iran has fired over 1,900 missiles and drones at the United Arab Emirates, more than any other country targeted by Tehran since the start of the Middle East war, upending travel plans in the financial hub despite its air defence intercepting many of the projectiles. It has taken aim at US assets but also civilian infrastructure, including landmarks, airports, ports and oil facilities around the Gulf, after US Israeli attacks decimated its leadership. In Fujairah, on the UAE’s east coast, a drone attack on oil infrastructure sparked a large fire, authorities said, reporting no injuries, adding that “efforts continue to bring it under control”. airports in the

DUBAI: Missiles and drone attacks hit across the UAE yesterday, with a drone-related incident sparking a fuel tank fire near Dubai airport that disrupted travel, while a missile killed a civilian in Abu Dhabi. In the eastern emirate of Fujairah, a drone attack on oil infrastructure sparked a fire, just one day after an AFP journalist saw smoke rising from a major UAE energy installation in the emirate. The attacks came a day after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said rockets had been launched from the UAE to attack Kharg Island. UAE officials have denied the claim. A Palestinian civilian was killed on the outskirts of the Emirati capital Abu Dhabi when a missile hit their car, the Abu Dhabi Media Office said. The UAE has reported seven deaths since the war began, including five civilians and two military personnel, who died in a helicopter crash blamed on a technical malfunction. Earlier yesterday, Dubai Airports said flights were gradually resuming at what is usually the world’s busiest for international flights, after a “drone-related incident” sparked a fuel tank fire nearby. Dubai airport has been targeted by attacks several times since Iran began its Gulf campaign, as have TEL AVIV: The Israeli military said yesterday it had begun what it described as “limited ground operations” against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. “IDF troops from the 91st division have begun limited and targeted ground operations against key Hezbollah strongholds in southern Lebanon, aimed at enhancing the forward defence area,” the military said in a statement. “This activity is part of broader defensive efforts to establish and strengthen a forward defensive posture, which includes the dismantling of terrorist infrastructure and the elimination of terrorists, remove threats and create an additional layer of security for residents of northern Israel,” it said. The announcement echoes similar statements issued in 2024, when Israel and Hezbollah fought a major war and in 2023, when the military launched a ground assault in Gaza. In a separate briefing to journalists, military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said: “We have identified Hezbollah is intending to expand their operations ... and firing hundreds of rockets a day. “They have also sent hundreds of Radwan fighters (an elite unit within Hezbollah) to the south.” Late on Sunday, Israel launched a

Smoke rising from Dubai International Airport yesterday. – REUTERSPIC The site sits on the UAE’s Gulf of Oman coast. A pipeline to the eastern emirate allows a large proportion of the country’s oil exports to bypass the Strait of

Hormuz, which has effectively been closed by Iran. Saudi Arabia’s Defence Ministry also reported intercepting more than 60 drones early yesterday. – AFP

Israel begins Lebanon ground offensive

Displaced Beirut residents sheltering in the open yesterday. – REUTERSPIC

new strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs, a stronghold of Hezbollah. Lebanese authorities said the death toll from Israeli attacks rose to 850, while more than 830,000 people

had displaced, including some 130,000 staying in collective shelters. Israel said no direct talks were planned with Lebanon to end the registered as

latest war with Hezbollah. The statement came a day after a Lebanese official said Beirut was preparing a delegation to negotiate with Israel. – AFP