Paris (France) (AFP) – Here are the latest events in the Middle East war on Sunday:
– **Asia stocks plunge**
Stock markets in South Korea and Japan fell sharply in early trade on Monday after oil prices soared above $100 per barrel for the first time in almost four years.
– **Fighting in eastern Lebanon**
Hezbollah said it was engaging Israeli forces who landed in eastern Lebanon overnight by helicopter across the Syrian border. Two Hezbollah sources told AFP on condition of anonymity that an Israeli helicopter in the area was downed by the group.
– **US orders embassy staff to leave Saudi**
The US State Department said it had ordered “non-emergency US government employees and US government employee family members to leave Saudi Arabia due to safety risks.”
– **Crude prices soar above $100**
Both crude benchmark prices, the WTI and Brent, soared above $100 a barrel amid fears of prolonged supply disruptions due to the war. Trump dismissed the spike on social media, saying it is “a very small price to pay” to remove Iran’s nuclear threat.
– **Khamenei son named successor**
Mojtaba Khamenei, the 56-year-old son of Iran’s late supreme leader Ali Khamenei, was elected to succeed his father by the country’s Assembly of Experts. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards quickly pledged allegiance to the new supreme leader. Judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei hailed the announcement as “a source of joy and hope” while top security official Ali Larijani called Khamenei’s election “completely legal”. Israel’s military had earlier vowed to target “any successor”, while US President Donald Trump told ABC News if the next leader “doesn’t get approval from us he’s not going to last long.”
– **7th American killed**
The US military announced its seventh combat death since the war began, after a service member succumbed to injuries from an attack in Saudi Arabia during Iran’s initial wave of retaliatory strikes. The six others were killed in a drone strike on their base in Kuwait.
– **Macron speaks with Iran president**
French President Emmanuel Macron said he spoke with Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian and urged a halt to strikes on other countries in the region. It is the first known contact by a Western leader with Pezeshkian since the war began.
– **Iran commanders killed**
Israel said five people were killed in a strike on a Beirut hotel, including three Iranian Revolutionary Guards commanders.
– **War could last**
Israel’s military chief warned that the country’s state of emergency could last “much longer”.
– **Anti-war women’s demos**
Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in cities across the world to mark International Women’s Day and denounce the war in the Middle East.
– **Iran threatens oil strikes**
Iran warned it would target oil sites in the region if Israel continued to strike its energy infrastructure. “If you can tolerate oil at more than $200 per barrel, continue this game,” Ebrahim Zolfaghari, a spokesman for Iran’s central military command, told state TV.
– **Lebanese displaced**
Lebanon’s social affairs minister Haneen Sayed said more than half a million people had been registered as displaced since the outbreak of the new war between Israel and Hezbollah.
– **Dead, wounded in Saudi**
Saudi Arabian civil defence officials said a “projectile” had killed two people and wounded 12. Its defence ministry reported intercepting 15 drones, including an attempted attack in the diplomatic quarter of the capital Riyadh.
– **Tehran hit**
Several blasts were heard in various parts of the Iranian capital, AFP journalists said. It was not immediately clear what was targeted, with clouds of smoke still shrouding the skyline after overnight strikes on oil depots in and around Tehran.
– **Palestinian camp hit**
Israel struck a Palestinian refugee camp in south Lebanon, Lebanese state media reported. The National News Agency said “enemy warplanes launched two raids on the Ain al-Hilweh camp in Sidon”.
– **’Reckless’ attacks**
The head of the Arab League said Iran’s attacks on several member states were “reckless”, urging Tehran to reverse what he called a “massive strategic mistake”.
– **Israeli casualties**
Israel’s military said two of its soldiers had been killed fighting in southern Lebanon — the first Israeli troops to have died since fighting flared with Iran’s Lebanese proxy Hezbollah. Six people were wounded, some by shrapnel, at blast sites in central Israel, first responders said.
© 2024 AFP
