There has been war in the Middle East since Saturday morning. Events come to a head. Image: keystone
Mar 2, 2026, 6:33 a.mMar 2, 2026, 6:33 a.m
The conflict in the Middle East continues to expand following the killing of Iranian head of state Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The Lebanese Hezbollah militia fired several rockets at Israel during the night, joining Tehran in the fight against its arch-enemy.
Israel responded with bombings in the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut and other parts of its northern neighbor. At the same time, according to the army, Israel’s air force launched a new wave of attacks in the heart of Tehran. According to President Donald Trump, the US military is also continuing to attack Iran.
It is the first time since a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel began in November 2024 that the Iran-backed Shiite militia has attacked Israel with rockets. She justified this with the killing of Khamenei in an Israeli air strike on Saturday in Tehran. The Israeli army said it intercepted one bullet and that others fell in open areas. Hezbollah bears “full responsibility for any escalation,” said Israeli Chief of General Staff Ejal Zamir that night.
Israel warns of escalation
In response, Israel’s army said it attacked senior members of Hezbollah in Beirut. Another was hit in the south of Lebanon. The attacks in Lebanon will continue, “their intensity will increase,” announced Israeli commander Rafi Milo this morning after the first wave of attacks. Israel and Hezbollah were at war until the end of 2024, and a ceasefire has actually been in effect since then. Although the militia is greatly weakened, it is said to still have great military capabilities.
Another militia in Iraq allied with Iran said it attacked a US troop base in the capital Baghdad. Saraja Aulija al-Dam said she attacked the US base near the airport with a drone early this morning. She also spoke of “retaliation” for Khamenei’s death and “support” for Iran. There was initially no confirmation from the official Iraqi side or the US military.
Israel and the USA have been attacking targets in Iran since Saturday. In the first 24 hours, the US military alone said it attacked more than 1,000 targets in the Islamic Republic. These included, among other things, the headquarters of the Revolutionary Guards, air defense systems, warships, submarines, military communications facilities, command centers and positions with ballistic missiles, according to the military’s regional command (Centcom).
Tehran responds with counterattacks on Israel and on Gulf states where the USA maintains bases. States in the Persian Gulf region condemned Iran’s “unjustified” attacks on their territories. “All necessary measures” will be taken to ensure security and stability and to protect all citizens, “including the option to respond to the aggression,” said the foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
Gulf states condemn Iran’s counterattacks
So far, the states of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have only repelled Iran’s attacks but not retaliated. The United States and a group of Arab states condemned Iran’s counterattacks in a joint statement. These represent a dangerous escalation that violates the sovereignty of several states and endangers regional stability, said the US State Department.
The Emirates say they are closing their embassy in Tehran and withdrawing their ambassador and all diplomatic staff from Iran. The country’s military says it has now fended off, among other things, 152 ballistic missiles and 506 drones from Iran. In Bahrain, debris from an intercepted missile crashed onto a ship and sparked a fire. A worker died, as the Interior Ministry announced on X.
Germany, France and Great Britain called on Iran to stop the attacks and reserved the right to take military defensive measures. The attacks were “indiscriminate and disproportionate,” said a joint statement distributed in Berlin by Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU), French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Meanwhile, the British air base at Akrotiri in Cyprus was hit by a suspected drone during the night. This was confirmed by the Ministry of Defense in London, according to the PA news agency. No one was injured in the incident. It was not immediately known who fired the drone.
USA and Israel continue to attack
Meanwhile, the USA and Israel continue to attack Iran. Members of the state and military leadership are particularly targeted. The Iranian news agency Tasnim published the names of seven generals killed on Sunday evening. These include Mohammed Shirazi, the slain Khamenei’s chief of staff, and his deputy Akbar Ebrahimzadeh.
“The fighting is currently continuing at full force and will continue until all of our objectives are achieved,” said US President Trump. According to its own information, the US military also uses B-2 stealth bombers. They attacked Iran’s particularly well-protected ballistic missile facilities with bombs weighing a good 900 kilograms (2,000 pounds), as the responsible regional command Centcom announced on X.
Iran does not see its ability to wage war limited by the American-Israeli bombings. Decentralized defense structures enabled his country to prolong the war at will, wrote Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on X. (sda/dpa)