US Israel Iran War Spreads as Hezbollah Enters Fighting and UK Base in Cyprus Hit

The war launched by the United States and Israel against Iran spread across the Middle East and beyond on Monday with Lebanon’s Hezbollah entering the fray and a British air base in Cyprus targeted. The Israeli military said it began a new “broad strike” on Tehran, as reporters in the Iranian capital heard explosions ring out on the third day of the US-Israeli joint assault.

Gulf monarchies threatened to retaliate as a Saudi oil refinery burned, Qatar halted LNG production, tankers were attacked off Oman and energy prices soared. Meanwhile, black smoke rose from the US embassy complex in Kuwait as Iran pressed on with attacks it launched in retaliation for the US and Israeli campaign that killed its supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Greek frigates

An Iranian drone hit the runway of a UK air force base in Akrotiri in Cyprus, whose government announced that the airport in its town of Paphos and the area around the British facility would be evacuated. A Cypriot government spokesman said two more drones targeting the base were “dealt with in a timely manner” and Greece announced it was deploying frigates and jets to help protect Cyprus, a fellow EU member. 

Israel and the US have been striking targets across Iran since Saturday. The war that began with Khamenei’s killing has engulfed the region, with explosions ringing out in Dubai, Bahrain, Iraq and elsewhere. Flights through the region’s hub airports have been cancelled, disrupting international travel for many thousands of people.

In Lebanon, the strikes have triggered a new round of violence between Israel and Hezbollah, with the Iran-backed group firing rockets and its enemy responding with bombing. Israeli’s Defense Minister Israel Katz predicted that Hezbollah’s leader would perish, as the army issued a warning for Lebanese civilians to evacuate areas of south Beirut. 

“We will strike Hezbollah hard, and Naim Qassem, chairman of the Hezbollah terrorist organization, will discover that whoever follows Khamenei’s path ends up like Khamenei — at the bottom of hell,” he said. As Lebanon, which had vowed to disarm Hezbollah, was dragged into the war, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam announced, “the immediate ban of all Hezbollah security and military activities and considering them illegal”.

Explosions rocked Beirut while, in southern Lebanon residents fled, according to journalists, after the Israeli military announced it was striking several parts of the country. In the southern city of Sidon, cars of families fled on packed roads with mattresses tied to their roofs. 

US jets downed by friendly fire

The Israeli military said it had struck a senior Hezbollah operative in Beirut, while Lebanese authorities said Israeli strikes killed at least 31 people. In Kuwait, a US base and a power station were targeted, while three US F-15e Strike Eagle jets were downed by friendly fire. The pilots and gunners survived.

“During active combat — that included attacks from Iranian aircraft, ballistic missiles, and drones — the US Air Force fighter jets were mistakenly shot down by Kuwaiti air defenses,” CENTCOM said. Fresh explosions were heard across Doha, Dubai and Manama on Monday morning, AFP correspondents reported.

In the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway that is key to global oil transit, three ships were attacked on Sunday after Iran had previously warned vessels against crossing. Such is the speed of the war’s expansion that there is no sign of any containment. AFP has not been able to verify the death tolls provided by Iranian sources.

President Donald Trump vowed to avenge the first US service members’ deaths, telling the New York Times that the United States and Israel could keep up the same level of attacks for four to five weeks. “It won’t be difficult. We have tremendous amounts of ammunition,” he said, adding he had a shortlist of three unnamed people he favored to lead Iran after the war.

“Sadly, there will likely be more before it ends,” Trump said after the deaths of three service members. “But America will avenge their deaths and deliver the most punishing blow to the terrorists who have waged war against, basically, civilisation.”

Sworn foe

Ali Larijani, the powerful head of the Supreme National Security Council, voiced defiance, vowing that Iran would defend itself whatever the cost. “We will fiercely defend ourselves and our six thousand years old civilization regardless of the costs and will make the enemies sorry for their miscalculation,” Larijani wrote.

Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have urged Iranians to overthrow the government in Iran, the sworn foe of Israel and the United States since the 1979 Islamic revolution toppled the pro-Western shah. Israel and the United States attacked Iran weeks after authorities crushed mass protests, killing thousands according to rights groups.

According to the Netblocks monitor, the internet has been down in Iran for more than 48 hours now. Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, whose elected role is subordinate to that of the supreme leader, called Khamenei’s killing a “declaration of war against Muslims”.

World leaders have given a mixed reaction to the war, which began two days after Iran and the United States held talks on Tehran’s nuclear program.