‘Nothing but impunity afforded to Israel’: Lebanese front overlooked as strikes intensify
Lebanon is the second front of the war in the Middle East. While there has been excellent reporting by domestic and foreign press, FRANCE 24’s media show Scoop asks why there hasn’t been more international coverage.
There has been “nothing but impunity afforded to Israel” since the Gaza war, said Rania Khalek, a Lebanese-American journalist with BreakThrough News, adding that she feels terrorized as Israel continues to strike Lebanon.
Iran conflict escalates as strikes signal wider regional risks
As the Iran conflict enters its fourth week, strikes on nuclear sites and a reported attack on a US-UK base signal further escalation. With no clear exit in sight, fears are mounting of wider instability and humanitarian fallout.
“The attack on Diego Garcia is an escalation… it’s a joint US-UK base, not just US territory – that in and of itself is definitely an escalation,” said Ali Vaez, director of the Iran Project and senior adviser at the International Crisis Group.
Israel says it has struck Iranian IRGC ballistic missile facility in Tehran
The Israeli military on Saturday said its forces struck ballistic missile production facilities belonging to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in overnight attacks on Tehran.
“Facilities utilised for the production of critical components for the development of ballistic missiles belonging to the Iranian regime’s security apparatus were targeted,” the military said.
The strikes hit a central Guards’ compound, a missile components production facility, and a separate compound belonging to Iran’s defence ministry, it said.
“The strikes significantly degrade the Iranian terror regime’s capabilities to continue producing critical components for ballistic missiles at these sites,” the military said.
The US and Israel launched their joint campaign against Iran on February 28, saying they seek to dismantle the country’s ballistic missile capabilities, alongside its nuclear facilities.
US military says Iran threat to Hormuz ‘degraded’
The head of US Central Command says in his latest video update on the war that US forces “remain on plan to eliminate Iran’s ability to project meaningful power outside its borders.”
Adm. Brad Cooper also detailed steps taken to undermine Iran’s control of the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway vital to international commerce such as oil shipments.
He says in a post on X that earlier in the week, multiple 5,000-pound bombs were dropped on an underground facility along Iran’s coastline that was used to store anti-ship cruise missiles, mobile missile launchers and other equipment “that presented a dangerous risk to international shipping.”
Cooper says intelligence support sites and missile radar relays used to monitor ship movements were destroyed.
“Iran’s ability to threaten freedom of navigation in and around the Strait of Hormuz is degraded as a result and we will not stop pursuing these targets,” he says in the video.
Cooper also said that “we have built the most extensive air defense umbrella in the world over the Middle East right now.”
Explosions heard in Bahrain capital, AFP journalist reports
In pictures: Families displaced by Israel’s bombardment of southern Beirut seek shelter in the capital
Displaced families from Beirut’s southern suburbs stand by makeshift shelters after being driven from their homes by the latest escalation between Hezbollah and Israel, in Beirut, Lebanon, March 21, 2026. Photo: Amr Abdallah Dalsh, Reuters
Iranian gas to Iraq resumes after South Pars attack, Iraqi state news agency says
Iranian gas supplies to Iraq have resumed at a rate of five million cubic metres per day, the Iraqi electricity ministry said, according to the state news agency.
Flows had been halted after Israel attacked Iran’s main gas field, South Pars, on Wednesday.
Iran ‘unsuccessfully’ targeted Diego Garcia base, UK official source confirms to AFP
Iran was “unsuccessful” in targeting the joint UK-US Indian Ocean military base at Diego Garcia, a UK official source confirmed to AFP, after the Wall Street Journal reported Tehran fired two ballistic missiles at it.
The source said the “unsuccessful targeting of Diego Garcia” took place before the UK government announced Friday that it would allow the United States to use some of its bases to target Iranian sites being used to attack ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
Bahrain says Patriot missile system involved in March 9 blast over residential area that injured civilians
A Patriot air defence system was involved in the interception of an Iranian drone over a residential area of Bahrain on March 9, Bahrain’s government told Reuters on Saturday, describing an incident that led to civilian injuries.
The interception prevented a drone strike and saved lives, the spokesperson said. The US military had previously said an Iranian drone had struck a residential neighbourhood on March 9, injuring civilians.
India’s Modi speaks to Iranian President Pezeshkian
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a post on X on Saturday that he had spoken with Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Modi condemned attacks on critical infrastructure in the Middle East region, while also reiterating the importance of ensuring that shipping lanes remain open and secure.
“Appreciated Iran’s continued support for the safety and security of Indian nationals in Iran,” Modi added.
UN atomic watchdog calls for ‘military restraint’ after Iran reports attack on Natanz nuclear site
The UN atomic watchdog said it was looking into a report by Iran that the US and Israel had attacked the Natanz nuclear site.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) head Rafael Grossi repeated a “call for military restraint to avoid any risk of a nuclear accident”, the agency posted on X.
“The IAEA has been informed by Iran that the Natanz nuclear site was attacked today. No increase in off-site radiation levels reported,” it added.
Israel defence minister warns strikes on Iran will increase ‘significantly’
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz warned that the United States and Israel would intensify their strikes on Iran in the coming week starting Sunday.
“This week, the intensity of the strikes to be carried out by the IDF and the US military against the Iranian terror regime and the infrastructure on which it relies will rise significantly,” Katz said in a statement issued by the defence ministry.
Officer killed in drone strike near Iraqi intelligence headquarters in Baghdad
An officer was killed after a drone launched by “outlaw groups” struck near the Iraqi intelligence headquarters in Baghdad, the National Intelligence Service said in a statement.
Iran’s Tasnim news agency reports renewed US-Israeli attack on Natanz enrichment facility
The US and Israel launched an attack on the Natanz uranium-enrichment facility, Iran’s Tasnim news agency said.
No radioactive leaks occurred and residents near the site were not at risk, Tasnim added.
Drone attack targeted Iraqi intelligence services in Baghdad, offical says
A drone attack targeted Iraqi intelligence services in an upscale residential neighbourhood in central Baghdad, a senior security official said.
“A drone targeted the headquarters of the Iraqi National Intelligence Service in the Mansour district” at around 10am local time (0700 GMT), General Saad Maan, head of the Iraqi government’s security media unit, said in a brief statement.
An Iraqi security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said earlier the attack targeted a “telecommunications building” with the National Intelligence Service, which cooperates with US advisors in Iraq as part of an international anti-jihadist coalition.
In Pictures: Iranian Shiites celebrate Eid al-Fitr under threat of US-Israeli bombs
Iranian Shiites take part in Eid al-Fitr prayers, marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, at the Grand Mosalla mosque in Tehran on March 21, 2026. Photos: AFP
Drone attack hits residential Baghdad neighbourhood
An upscale Baghdad neighbourhood came under drone attack this morning, a security official told AFP, with one drone targeting an Iraqi security service building.
The drone “carried out the attack on a communications building”, the official said, adding that the building houses an Iraqi security agency that works with US advisors in Iraq, part of an international anti-jihadist coalition.
Another drone, filming the operation, crashed into a private members sports club popular with Iraqi elite and foreign diplomats, according to the same source.
Moscow remains Tehran’s ‘reliable partner’, Putin tells Iranian leader in Nowruz message
Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Iranian leaders on Nowruz and said Moscow remained a loyal friend and reliable partner to Tehran, the Kremlin said.
“Vladimir Putin wished the Iranian people to overcome the harsh trials with dignity and stressed that in this difficult time Moscow remains a loyal friend and reliable partner of Tehran,” the Kremlin said.
Iran fires missiles toward US-UK base in Indian ocean, Iran’s Mehr says
Iran fired two ballistic missiles at the US-UK military base Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported.
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier that Iran had launched two intermediate-range ballistic missiles toward the base but that they did not hit it.
Mehr said targeting the base was a “significant step … that shows that the range of Iran’s missiles is beyond what the enemy previously imagined”.
Iran military warns UAE over attacks on disputed Gulf islands
Iran’s military warned the United Arab Emirates against allowing attacks from its territory on two disputed islands in the Gulf, near the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
“We warn the United Arab Emirates if any further aggression originates from its territory against the Iranian islands of Abu Musa and Greater Tunb in the Persian Gulf, Iran’s powerful armed forces will subject [the industrial port city of] Ras Al Khaimah in the UAE to heavy strikes,” the military’s operational command Khatam al-Anbiya said in a statement carried by Tasnim news agency.
Abu Musa and the Greater Tunb islands, which are controlled by Iran but claimed by the UAE, have long been a source of dispute between the two countries.
The islands are located in the Gulf near the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz, through which normally about a fifth of the world’s oil passes. Tehran effectively closed the narrow waterway to most maritime traffic following the US-Israeli attack on Iran.