Israel\u2019s defense minister said Wednesday that the military killed Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib. Khatib\u2019s killing follows Israel killing top Iranian security official Ali Larijani and the head of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard\u2019s all-volunteer Basij force.<\/p>\n
Also on Wednesday, Iran launched strikes toward Israel and neighboring Gulf countries, with explosions heard in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar and interceptions reported in Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n
The attacks came hours after Iranian state media confirmed Israel\u2019s military killed top Iranian security official<\/a> Ali Larijani in an overnight strike<\/a>, as well as Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani, the head of the Revolutionary Guard\u2019s Basij force<\/a>, known for its role in suppressing protests.<\/p>\n An Israeli airstrike struck an apartment building in Bachoura, central Beirut, completely flattening it as day broke. Two earlier strikes on residential apartments in other central Beirut neighborhoods early Wednesday killed at least six people and wounded 24 others, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.<\/p>\n Israeli strikes targeting central Beirut have become increasingly frequent in recent days, with or without prior warning. The attacks have hit far from the city\u2019s southern suburbs, for which the army issued evacuation notices early in the war with Hezbollah.<\/p>\n The U.S.-Israeli war with Iran has killed at least 1,300 people in Iran, more than 900 in Lebanon and 14 in Israel, according to officials in those countries. The U.S. military says 13 U.S. service members have been killed and about 200 wounded.<\/p>\n Here is the latest:<\/p>\n UAE says 13 missiles and 27 drones fired on the country<\/p>\n The United Arab Emirates has tallied 13 ballistic missiles and 27 drones fired Wednesday on the oil-rich nation.<\/p>\n Iranian state media says natural gas facilities attacked<\/p>\n Facilities associated with Iran\u2019s massive offshore South Pars natural gas field came under attack Wednesday, state media reported.<\/p>\n Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency reported on the attack targeting facilities at Asaluyeh in Iran\u2019s southern Bushehr province.<\/p>\n They did not immediately elaborate.<\/p>\n Iran shares the offshore field in the Persian Gulf with Qatar, which it has repeatedly attacked during the war along with other Gulf Arab nations.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t clear if Israel or the United States had carried out the attack, however the U.S. has been operating primarily in southern Iran.<\/p>\n The U.S. previously attacked Iran\u2019s Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf, its main oil terminal.<\/p>\n At least 8 killed in Iran courthouse airstrike<\/p>\n At least eight people were killed in an airstrike on a courthouse complex in Iran\u2019s Larestan County on Wednesday, according to Iran\u2019s official judiciary news agency Mizan.<\/p>\n The head of the Fars province judiciary told Mizan that one lawyer, six clients and a member of the judicial staff were killed, but the agency reports the exact number of those killed and wounded is not yet known.<\/p>\n Israel says strikes targeted Hezbollah-linked financial institution<\/p>\n The Israeli military said it hit branches of al-Qard al-Hasan, a Hezbollah-linked microfinance institution that Israel says is being used to fund the group\u2019s military wing.<\/p>\n A wave of Israeli strikes overnight hit several neighborhoods in central Beirut and killed 10 people, the Lebanese Health Ministry said.<\/p>\n Israel also said its navy targeted Hezbollah militants in Beirut.<\/p>\n French envoy bashes Hezbollah and Israel<\/p>\n France\u2019s special envoy for Lebanon, Jean-Yves Le Drian, speaking to the France Info radio station Wednesday, said the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah \u201cbears full responsibility for the resumption of fighting in Lebanon\u201d but \u201cIsrael\u2019s response has been disproportionate and counterproductive, as it unites various actors against Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n He criticized Israel for mass evacuation orders that have driven the displacement of more 1 million people in Lebanon and for spurning offers by the Lebanese government to enter into negotiations.<\/p>\n Israel and the U.S. have criticized the Lebanese state for failing to disarm Hezbollah after the last Israel-Hezbollah war ended with a ceasefire in November 2024. Le Drian said the state had taken steps toward disarmament.<\/p>\n \u201cIsrael occupied Lebanon for many years and did not succeed in eliminating Hezbollah\u2019s military capabilities,\u201d Le Drian said. \u201cIt cannot now demand that the Lebanese government achieve this in three days under bombardment.\u201d<\/p>\n Israel says Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib killed<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s Defense Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday that the Israeli military killed Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib.<\/p>\n Khatib\u2019s killing follows Israel killing top Iranian security official Ali Larijani and the head of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard\u2019s all-volunteer Basij force.<\/p>\n Katz said \u201csignificant surprises are expected throughout this day on all the fronts,\u201d without elaborating, in announcing Khatib\u2019s killing.<\/p>\n The U.S. Treasury, which sanctioned Khatib in 2022 over the Intelligence Ministry \u201cengaging in cyber-enabled activities against the United States and its allies\u201d put his year of birth as either 1960 or 1961. It said Khatib had been born in Ghayenat in Iran\u2019s South Khorasan Province.<\/p>\n Khatib \u201cdirects several networks of cyber threat actors involved in cyber espionage and ransomware attacks in support of Iran\u2019s political goals,\u201d the Treasury said at the time. \u201cIn addition to conducting malicious cyber activity that affected Albanian government websites, (Intelligence Ministry) cyber actors were also responsible for the leaking of documents purported to be from the Albanian government and personal information associated with Albanian residents.\u201d<\/p>\n The Treasury also called Iran\u2019s Intelligence Ministry in another round of sanctions \u201cone of the Iranian government\u2019s main security services which is responsible for serious human rights abuses.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cUnder his leadership, the (Intelligence Ministry) has cracked down on a large number of human rights defenders, women-rights activists, journalists, filmmakers, and members of religious minority groups,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n The Intelligence Ministry \u201chas also aggressively persecuted individuals reporting on human rights abuses and violations in Iran, as well as their families, and subjected detainees to torture in secret detention centers during his tenure.\u201d<\/p>\n In June 2025, Khatib claimed Iran seized documents from Israel\u2019s nuclear program. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency later said that the information Iran claimed it seized regarding Israel\u2019s nuclear program \u201cseems to refer\u201d to the country\u2019s Soreq Nuclear Research Center. Soreq, located 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Tel Aviv, is a national laboratory for nuclear science established in Israel in 1958, engaged in nuclear science, radiation safety and applied physics.<\/p>\n Israel, whose undeclared atomic weapons program makes it the only country in the Mideast believed to have nuclear bombs, has not acknowledged any such Iranian operation targeting it, though there have been arrests of Israelis allegedly spying for Tehran.<\/p>\n Khatib was a Shiite cleric who worked in a variety of positions in Iran\u2019s judiciary and the Intelligence Ministry. He served in the Revolutionary Guard in the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s and was wounded in combat.<\/p>\n Iran did not immediately acknowledge Khatib\u2019s death as Iranian state television aired live footage of a funeral procession for top Iranian security official Ali Larijani, as well as the slain head of the Revolutionary Guard\u2019s all-volunteer Basij force and others, in Tehran. Thousands thronged to the processional as Larijani\u2019s body and his son, also killed in an Israeli strike, paraded past on a bed of a semitruck adorned with images of the dead. People waved Iranian flags at the funeral.<\/p>\n Iran has increasingly turned toward large, pro-government events in the war as Israeli airstrikes continue to kill the theocracy\u2019s top leaders, including the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei when the war began Feb. 28.<\/p>\n In announcing killing Khatib, the Israeli military described Iran’s Intelligence Ministry as having \u201cadvanced intelligence capabilities\u201d and conducting operations worldwide, including those against Israel.<\/p>\n \u201cKhatib played a significant role during the recent protests throughout Iran, both with regards to the arrest and killing of protestors as well as shaping the regime\u2019s intelligence assessment,\u201d the Israeli military said. \u201cSimilarly, he operated against Iranian citizens during the Mahsa Amini protests.\u201d<\/p>\n Israel says Basij chief was killed while hiding in a tent<\/p>\n A senior Israeli military intelligence official says Israel killed the head of Iran\u2019s Basij force while he was hiding in a tent hidden in a wooded area under some trees.<\/p>\n The official says Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani was killed with his top staff in the strike.<\/p>\n The official says such strikes, which have killed many members of Iran\u2019s leadership, are meant to send a message that \u201cthey have no safe place.\u201d The account could not be independently verified.<\/p>\n The official declined to say how Israel located top Iranian official Ari Larijani, who was killed in a separate strike this week. But he says, \u201cevery time they decide to appear publicly, it\u2019s a big advantage for us.\u201d<\/p>\n The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a classified intelligence assessment.<\/p>\n Kremlin condemns Larijani killing<\/p>\n The Kremlin on Wednesday condemned Israel\u2019s killing of Iran\u2019s senior security officials.<\/p>\n Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said \u201cwe resolutely condemn\u201d the killing of members of the Iranian leadership, including Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran\u2019s Supreme National Security Council and one of the country\u2019s most powerful figures.<\/p>\n NATO deploys Patriot air defense battery to southern Turkey<\/p>\n Turkish military spokesperson Rear Adm. Zeki Akturk said a second Patriot missile system was being sent to Adana province, where the U.S. and other countries maintain a military presence alongside Turkish troops at Incirlik Air Base.<\/p>\n The battery was being sent by the Allied Air Command in Ramstein, Germany, he said Wednesday.<\/p>\n Three ballistic missiles have been fired toward Turkey from Iran since the start of the war. They were intercepted by NATO air defenses stationed in the eastern Mediterranean.<\/p>\n Turkey last week said NATO had positioned a Patriot system in the southeastern Malatya province where a NATO radar station is based.<\/p>\n Journalist with Hebzollah\u2019s Al-Manar TV killed in airstrike<\/p>\n Al-Manar said that the head of its political program Mohammed Sherri was killed along with his wife in the strike on central Beirut\u2019s Zokak Blatt neighborhood.<\/p>\n Al-Manar added that Sherri\u2019s children and grand children were wounded in strike early Wednesday.<\/p>\n Sherri had been a presenter at the station for many years and had been well-known in the country.<\/p>\n Iraq resumes exports of Kirkuk oil via Turkey<\/p>\n Iraq said Wednesday it has resumed oil exports from fields in the city of Kirkuk through a pipeline to the Turkish port of Ceyhan.<\/p>\n The development came after the Iraqi government reached a deal with the autonomous Kurdish administration north of the country, the Iraqi oil ministry said.<\/p>\n The move avoids the Persian Gulf altogether. The ministry said it will initially export 250,000 barrels per day of crude oil.<\/p>\n The war in the Middle East and the virtual closure of the Strait of Hormuz have severely impacted Iraq, whose economy depends overwhelmingly on oil.<\/p>\n Bahrain hit by missile and drone, sirens sound in Israel<\/p>\n Bahrain said Wednesday Iran fired a missile and a drone at the island kingdom that hosts the U.S. 5th Fleet.<\/p>\n Meanwhile sirens have sounded in parts of northern Israel warning of incoming missiles.<\/p>\n Lebanon ministry says Beirut airstrikes kill 10 people<\/p>\n The ministry said on Wednesday that the airstrikes, which began around midnight, have also wounded 27.<\/p>\n It said 912 people have been killed and 2,221 wounded in Lebanon since the latest round of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah began on March 2.<\/p>\n Israel suspends UNICEF shipments to Gaza<\/p>\n COGAT, Israel\u2019s military body in charge of coordinating aid to Gaza, said Wednesday it found tobacco and nicotine products inside hygeine kits while inspecting a UNICEF aid shipment a day earlier at the Kerem Shalom crossing.<\/p>\n UNICEF didn\u2019t immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n Maj. Gen. Yoram Halevi of COGAT said the suspension will remain until UNICEF responds to the matter.<\/p>\n Israel has tightly controlled the entry of aid and commercial goods into Gaza since the Oct. 2023 start of the war, but smugglers manage get goods through.<\/p>\n