Tehran/Tel Aviv, March 2, (dpa/GNA) – The war in the Middle East widened on Monday, as Israel and the United States, pressed ahead with strikes on targets in Iran, and Tehran responded with attacks across the region.
The conflict has expanded beyond Iran and Israel, to include Lebanon and several Gulf states.
The Iran-allied Hezbollah militia fired rockets from Lebanon into northern Israel overnight, saying the attack was in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, in Israeli strikes on Saturday.
Israel responded by bombarding Hezbollah positions in Lebanon, including the suburbs of Beirut.
The Israeli Air Force has struck more than 600 targets in Iran, since launching its campaign, the military said on Monday afternoon. These included more than 20 sites linked to Iranian military leaders, more than 150 surface-to-surface missiles and over 200 air defence systems.
The war has already caused significant casualties. Iran’s Red Crescent said at least 555 people had been killed in the bombardments.
More than 30 were reported killed and over 100 wounded in Israeli strikes in Lebanon, while Israel’s emergency services said 15 people were injured by a rocket shrapnel in the southern city of Beersheba.
The US military said the number of US personnel killed in operations against Iran stands at four.
On Monday, the Israeli Air Force launched a new wave of strikes on central Tehran. Witnesses reported heavy bombardment in the city centre near the parliament building, as well as missile impacts in the north of the metropolis of about 15 million people.
Israel and the United States say they are targeting military infrastructure, including missile launch sites, nuclear facilities, command centres and the Iranian leadership.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Washington intends to keep its campaign limited in scope and duration.
“To the media outlets and political left screaming ‘endless wars’: Stop. This is not Iraq. This is not endless,” he said in Washington.
Hegseth said the Trump administration was pursuing “clear” objectives: “Destroy the missile threat, destroy the navy, no nukes.”
Although several senior Iranians have been killed, he said the campaign was not explicitely aimed at changing the country’s leadership: “This is not a regime change war — but the regime sure did change.”
While President Donald Trump has suggested the war could last around four weeks, Hegseth said it could end sooner or take longer.
Both Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have urged Iranians to seize the moment to overthrow the country’s clerical leadership.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said it was a hoped-for outcome that “the Iranian people will be able to remove this regime themselves.”
The fallout from the war was felt across the Gulf on Monday.
In Kuwait, three US military aircraft crashed in what the US Central Command described as an apparent “friendly fire” incident involving Kuwaiti air defences. The crews survived.
In US-allied Bahrain, debris from an intercepted missile struck a ship and caused a fire, killing an Asian worker, according to the interior ministry. The US embassy warned its citizens to avoid hotels in the capital Manama, saying they could become targets.
In Saudi Arabia, the Defence Ministry said two suspected Iranian drones targeted the Ras Tanura oil refinery operated by state oil giant Aramco, but were intercepted and destroyed. Falling debris sparked a fire, with no casualties reported.
In Qatar, the state-owned energy company QatarEnergy said it halted liquefied natural gas production after Iranian drones attacked operating facilities at Ras Laffan Industrial City and Mesaieed Industrial City. Qatar’s Defence Ministry said two drones targeted the sites, and there were no casualties.
Off Oman, authorities said a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker was attacked by a suspected Iranian drone boat, killing an Indian crew member in an engine-room fire. The rest of the crew was evacuated with the help of a nearby merchant ship.
Tensions were rising as far afield as EU-member Cyprus, where a drone struck the British air base at Akrotiri overnight. Only “minimal damage” was caused, the UK Defence Ministry said.
The drone was identified by Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides as a Shahed type, primarily produced in Iran. The base later intercepted two additional unmanned aerial vehicles of unknown origin.
Greece announced it would deploy two frigates, and two F-16 fighter jets to Cyprus in response.
Israel, meanwhile, has mobilized more than 110,000 reservists, in preparation for potential fighting on multiple fronts as fears mount that the conflict could expand further across the region.
GNA