Iran-US war latest: Israel pounds Beirut with bombs as US warns attacks on Iran will ‘surge dramatically’newsline24

Residents in Dubai have received mobile phone alerts warning them of missile threats, witnesses have told Reuters.

Israelis have been ordered by Hezbollah to evacuate areas near the Lebanese border, according to Iranian state broadcaster Press TV.

“Warning to the residents of the northern settlements: You are required to evacuate all settlements located 5km of the border line,” it said.

“The aggression of your army against Lebanese sovereignty and civilians, the destruction of civilian infrastructure, and the campaign of displacement it is carrying out will not go unanswered. Head south.”

Kurdistan’s Regional Government has officially denied claims that it will be involved in the ongoing war between the US, Israel and Iran.

Reports earlier this week suggested that the CIA were preparing to arm Kurdish factions in order to foment a rebellion against the Iranian government.

“Reports claiming a role for the Kurdistan Region and allegations asserting that we are part of a plan to arm and send opposition Kurdish parties into Iranian territory are entirely baseless, and we categorically deny them in full, affirming that they are being deliberately and maliciously disseminated,” wrote Beshwa Horamani, a government spokesperson, in a post on X on Thursday.

“At the same time, the government of the Kurdistan Region and the political parties within it are not part of any campaign to expand the scope of war and tensions in the region.

“On the contrary, we call for peace and stability in the region, and we strongly condemn the cowardly attacks targeting the Kurdistan Region, while demanding that the federal government and the international community intervene to stop these aggressions and protect our land, our people, and our region.”

Maersk will temporarily suspend its FM1 service, connecting the Far East to the Middle East, and its ME11 service, connecting the Middle East to Europe, the shipping group said in a statement on Friday.

“This decision has been taken as a precautionary measure to ensure the safety of our personnel and vessels while minimizing operational disruption across our wider network,” Maersk said in an advisory to customers.

The Israeli military said it carried out a large wave of airstrikes in southern Beirut on Friday, targeting what it described as Hezbollah infrastructure in the Dahieh district – a known stronghold of the Iran-backed group.

According to an update from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the Israeli Air Force conducted 26 strikes in the area as part of a “broad-scale” operation aimed at degrading Hezbollah’s operational capabilities.

Among the targets were a command centre belonging to Hezbollah’s executive council and a facility that the military said was being used to store unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) deployed in attacks against Israel.

The IDF said steps were taken before the strikes to reduce the risk of civilian casualties.

“Prior to the strikes, measures were taken to mitigate the risk of harm to civilians,” the military said in a statement, without providing further details on the precautions.

South Korean foreign minister Cho Hyun said on Friday that the United States and South Korea are discussing the possible redeployment of some US Patriot missile defence systems currently based in South Korea for use in the war against Iran.

Cho was responding to a question during a parliamentary hearing.

Emirates and Etihad Airways began resuming limited flight schedules to key global cities from their UAE hubs on Friday, though the threat of missile fire continued to pile pressure on airlines scrambling to accommodate stranded travellers.

With much of the Middle East’s airspace still closed due to concerns over missile and drone attacks since the start of the US–Israel war against Iran, authorities have been arranging charter flights and securing seats on limited commercial services to evacuate tens of thousands of people.

A government-chartered Air France flight sent to bring French nationals home from the United Arab Emirates was forced to turn back on Thursday due to missile activity in the area, French transport minister Philippe Tabarot said.

“This situation reflects the instability in the region and the complexity of repatriation operations,” he said.

Britain’s first repatriation flight from Oman landed at London’s Stansted Airport early on Friday after being rescheduled due to operational issues, including delays in boarding passengers.

Abu Dhabi-based Etihad said on Friday it would resume a limited flight schedule through 19 March, operating services to and from Abu Dhabi to around 70 destinations including London, Paris, Frankfurt, Delhi, New York, Toronto and Tel Aviv.

Traffic at Dubai Airport – normally the world’s busiest international hub – had almost doubled on Thursday from the previous day but remained only about 25 per cent of normal levels, flight-tracking website Flightradar24 said.

Dubai-based Emirates said late on Thursday it was operating a reduced schedule to 82 destinations including London, Sydney, Singapore and New York until further notice. Passengers transiting in Dubai will only be accepted if their connecting flight is operating, the airline said.

The disruption at Middle Eastern hubs has particularly affected travellers on routes between Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.

Qatar’s Doha hub remains closed, though authorities have been arranging a limited number of relief flights from Oman and Saudi Arabia.

Cirium data showed that between February 28 – when the conflict began – and March 5, more than 44,000 flights were scheduled in and out of the Middle East, with over 25,000 cancelled so far.

The Indian government has said that the navy has joined an ongoing search and rescue operation in the Indian Ocean after the US torpedoed and sank the Iranian warship.

The strike, which occurred off the southern coast of Sri Lanka this week, marked the time since World War Two that the United States has sunk an enemy vessel with a torpedo. Sri Lankan authorities recovered bodies of 87 sailors.

According to an official statement from the Indian government, the alert was first received by the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) in Colombo in the early hours of 4 March 2026. The vessel was reported to be operating about 20 nautical miles west of Galle, within the search and rescue (SAR) region under Sri Lanka’s responsibility.

Soon after the information was shared, the Indian Navy launched support operations to assist Sri Lanka in the rescue effort.A long-range maritime patrol aircraft was dispatched at 10am on Wednesday to help widen the search area and support Sri Lankan authorities already conducting rescue efforts. The navy also kept another aircraft equipped with air-droppable life rafts on standby for immediate deployment if required.

The Indian Navy also redirected INS Tarangini, which was operating nearby at the time of the incident. The vessel reached the search area by around 4pm hours on the same day to assist in the rescue operation.

By the time the Indian ship arrived, Sri Lanka’s navy and other local agencies had already begun search and rescue operations in the waters off Galle.

In addition, INS Ikshak sailed from Kochi to reinforce the mission and remains deployed in the area to continue searching for missing personnel. Officials said the deployment is part of India’s humanitarian response to assist shipwrecked sailors.

The Iranian frigate had been “a guest” of India’s navy, the Iranian foreign minister said. It had come to participate in naval exercises hosted by India before heading out into international waters.

The US military strike has raised questions over the Indian’s government’s lack of response to the incident, saying the sinking of the warship so close to India’s maritime neighborhood warranted an official statement.

Kanwal Sibal, a former diplomat who served as India’s foreign secretary from 2002 to 2003, wrote on X that India was “far from politically or militarily responsible for the US attack,” but its “responsibility is at a moral and human plane.”

“The US has ignored India’s sensitivities,” Sibal said. “The ship was in these waters because of India’s invitation.”

Insiders told the news site Zeteo they’ve been concerned over multiple instances, including Weiss tweeting a fire emoji above a segment where a guest slammed leftist New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani for criticizing the war.

The Independent has contacted CBS News for comment.

The war is seen in media circles as perhaps the strongest test yet of how Weiss’s own right-leaning, pro-Israel views will influence the network’s coverage.