Tensions are escalating in the Middle East, on the 18th day of the war, as early Tuesday morning (17/3), the Israeli military announced it began launching airstrikes against Tehran and Hezbollah “positions” of the Shiite movement in Beirut.
Israeli strikes on Iran and Lebanon capitals
Israel is conducting “a wave of large-scale airstrikes against Iranian terrorist regime infrastructure in Tehran,” the military said via Telegram, later adding that it began launching a “new wave of strikes against Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in Beirut.”
Three districts of Lebanon’s capital under bombardment
Shortly after, as became known, three districts of Beirut were bombed in the early morning hours, according to reports by Lebanese official news agency ANI.
According to ANI, Israeli aircraft struck the Kaafat and Haret Hreik neighborhoods in the southern part of the city, while also targeting an apartment on a high floor of a building in Doha Aramoun, in the same sector.
United Arab Emirates: Preemptively close airspace amid missile and drone interceptions
The United Arab Emirates’ civil aviation authority announced the temporary complete closure of their airspace as an “exceptional precautionary measure,” amid interceptions of missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles, the state news agency reported in the early morning hours.
A short time earlier, the UAE Ministry of Defense announced that air defense systems were operating to intercept missiles and drones launched from Iran, which continues strikes on Gulf states in retaliation for the war launched against it by the US and Israel on February 28th.
