Strait of Hormuz<\/a>, through which a fifth of the world\u2019s traded oil passes, even as U.S. and Israeli warplanes pummel military and other targets across Iran.<\/p>\nThe moves appear to signal the two-week-old war is not nearing an end.<\/p>\n
Here is the latest:<\/p>\n
Lebanon\u2019s state-run National News Agency reported Israeli strikes Saturday morning on Beirut and the country\u2019s south.<\/p>\n
The Palestinian militant group also urged regional countries to \u201ccooperate and stop\u201d the U.S. and Israeli assault on Iran.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile affirming the right of the Islamic Republic of Iran to respond to this aggression by all available means in accordance with international norms and laws, the movement calls upon the brothers in Iran to avoid targeting neighboring countries,\u201d Hamas said in a statement Saturday, its first since the war began on Feb. 28.<\/p>\n
The group, which maintains close ties with Iran and Qatar, said stopping the war is in the interest of the region.<\/p>\n
Hamas is part of the so-called Axis of Resistance, which includes Iranian-backed militant groups in the Middle East.<\/p>\n
An airstrike hit a house in Iraq\u2019s capital, Baghdad, early Saturday, killing at least one person, according to a security official and another affiliated with the Iranian-backed armed groups in the country.<\/p>\n
The strike in Baghdad\u2019s Karrada district also wounded two people, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren\u2019t authorized to speak to the press.<\/p>\n
In a statement, the Iraqi military condemned the strike as \u201ca blatant violation of all humanitarian values and a disregard for international conventions.\u201d<\/p>\n
The strike happened before a missile attack hit the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad.<\/p>\n
\u2014<\/p>\n
By Qassim Abdul-Zahra<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s semiofficial Fars news agency reported at least 15 explosions with thick smoke rising over Kharg Island, earlier hit by U.S. strikes.<\/p>\n
It said the strikes targeted an air defense facility, a naval base, the airport control tower, and an offshore oil company\u2019s helicopter hangar, adding no oil infrastructure was damaged in the attack.<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s joint military command reiterated its threat to attack U.S.-linked oil and energy facilities in the region if the Islamic Republic\u2019s oil infrastructure were hit.<\/p>\n
Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesperson for the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters made the threat early Saturday, according to Iran\u2019s state-run television.<\/p>\n
He warned that Iran will target \u201call oil, economic, and energy infrastructures belonging to oil companies across the region that have American shares or cooperate with America\u201d if energy and economic infrastructure in Iran is attacked.<\/p>\n
There was no immediate comment from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad after a strike hit it\u2019s compound in the Iraqi capital.<\/p>\n
On Friday, the embassy renewed its Level 4 security alert for Iraq, warning that Iran and Iran-aligned militia groups have previously carried out attacks against U.S. citizens, interests and infrastructure, and \u201cmay continue to target them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sprawling embassy complex, one of the largest U.S. diplomatic facilities in the world, has been repeatedly targeted by rockets and drones in the past by Iran-aligned militias.<\/p>\n
The groups have recently stepped up attacks on bases hosting U.S. and coalition troops.<\/p>\n
A drone strike in northern Iraq on Thursday killed a French soldier and wounded several others stationed there as part of an international coalition.<\/p>\n
A missile struck a helipad inside the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, two security officials said.<\/p>\n
The projectile landed within the embassy\u2019s boundaries after the Green Zone, the heavily fortified district in central Baghdad that houses Iraqi government institutions and foreign embassies, added the security officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity as they are not authorized to speak with the press.<\/p>\n
Video obtained by The Associated Press showed smoke billowing from inside the compound.<\/p>\n
\u2014<\/p>\n
By Qassim Abdul-Zahra<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Donald Trump said U.S. forces on Friday \u201cobliterated\u201d targets on Iran\u2019s Kharg Island, which is home to the primary terminal that handles the country\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":344660,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[502,20153,22239,22241,22240,762,22243,609,4347,22242,12092],"class_list":["post-344657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-america","tag-baghdad","tag-diplomatic-services","tag-ebrahim-zolfaghari","tag-khatam-al-anbiya-central-headquarters","tag-official","tag-oil-infrastructure","tag-president","tag-qatar","tag-safety-official","tag-u-s-embassy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344657"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344657\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":344659,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344657\/revisions\/344659"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/344660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}