Iran-US war latest: Yemen's Tehran

Thousands of US marines have arrived in the Middle East aboard the USS Tripoli, according to US Central Command, as the Yemeni Houthis have warned they will continue carrying out military operations in the coming days.

“The America-class amphibious assault ship serves as the flagship for the Tripoli Amphibious Ready Group/31st Marine Expeditionary Unit composed of 3,500 Sailors and Marines in addition to transport and strike fighter aircraft, as well as amphibious assault and tactical assets,” wrote US Central Command on Saturday.

The arrival of the reinforcements comes amidst speculation of a ground invasion. However, secretary of state Marco Rubio had said on Friday that the US could achieve its goals without a ground invasion.

Earlier this week, reports from the Wall Street Journal suggested Trump was considering sending 10,000 troops.

The Iran-aligned Houthis said they carried out a second attack ⁠on Israel in less than 24 hours using missiles and ⁠drones, and ​vowed ⁠to continue military operations in the ⁠coming days, the ​group's ⁠military spokesperson Yahya Saree ‌said in a televised speech.

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The Egyptian prime minister has confirmed that all commercial establishments such as malls, shops and cafes will close at 9pm, except on Thursdays and Fridays when they will close at 11pm), starting Saturday and lasting for a month to ration electricity consumption due to the shortage of petroleum products resulting from the ongoing war between the US, Israel and Iran.

Aluminium ​Bahrain, also known as Alba, confirmed early ⁠Sunday that its facilities were targeted in an Iranian ⁠attack ​a ⁠day earlier, Bahrain's state news ⁠agency reported.

Alba said ​two ⁠people were ‌mildly injured in the attack, adding ‌that it ‌was assessing damage in the ⁠facilities. The confirmation comes after Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they targeted Alba and Emirates Global Aluminium in ​response to attacks ‌on two ⁠Iranian steel ⁠plants.

Air defences shot down a drone ⁠near the residence of the leader of ⁠the ​Iraqi ⁠Kurdish ruling party, Masoud ⁠Barzani, in ​Erbil, security ⁠sources ‌told Reuters .

Security sources said ‌on Saturday ‌that a drone attack targeted ⁠the of the president of Iraq's Kurdistan Region in an incident ‌that comes ​as ‌tensions continue ⁠to rise ⁠across northern Iraq.

Israel says it intercepted first incoming missile from Yemen as war in Middle East intensifies

Iranian opposition figure Reza Pahlavi on Saturday warned that negotiating ⁠for peace with the current leaders of Iran would only push the threat to Americans down the road, and said he would once again call for Iranians to protest in the streets.

Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s ousted shah, was warmly received during his address to the Conservative Political Action Conference in Texas, an ⁠annual gathering of Republican activists and lawmakers.

He drew a ​standing ⁠ovation as he took the stage, and his pledges to help liberate the Iranian people sparked enthusiastic rounds of applause from conservatives and Iranian Americans in the audience.

Citing president ⁠Donald Trump's earlier this month that he was pressing ahead with attacks on Iran ​because he ⁠did not want to confront security threats ‌from the country “every two years," Pahlavi warned that negotiating with Iran’s current leadership would mean doing exactly that.

"The only thing that the remnants of this regime can be relied on to do ‌is to buy time, to cheat and to steal. They ‌will never be honest or true partners for peace," Pahlavi said.

"It will buy time, it will pretend to negotiate, and then it will return to its old jihadist ways of threatening America, its security and its interests." Pahlavi, 65, has ⁠himself as the most viable option to lead a transitional government and expressed readiness to return to Iran at the earliest opportunity, ending a 47-year absence from the country.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has alleged that US military facilities in the Middle East and the Gulf region are being photographed by Russian satellites in the interests of Iran.

He said that Russia’s satellite had imaged facilities on:

All of this took place this week, he alleged.

When I travel outside of Ukraine, I get daily intelligence updates online. This morning, I was briefed that U.S. military facilities in the Middle East and the Gulf region were photographed by Russian satellites in the interests of Iran. On March 24th, they imaged the U.S.–UK…

Pakistan’s deputy prime minister Ishaq Dar has said 20 more vessels flying under a Pakistani flag will be allowed through the Strait of Hormuz.

It comes after the IRGC closed the Persian waterway on Friday.

Mr Dar said on social media: “I am pleased to a great news that the Government of Iran has agreed to allow 20 more ships under the Pakistani flag to pass through the Strait of Hormuz; two ships will cross the Strait daily.

“This is a welcome and constructive gesture by Iran and deserves appreciation. It is a harbinger of peace and will help usher stability in the region.

“This positive announcement marks a meaningful step toward peace and will strengthen our collective efforts in that direction.

“Dialogue, diplomacy, and such confidence-building measures are the only way forward.”

I am pleased to a great news that the Government of Iran has agreed to allow 20 more ships under the Pakistani flag to pass through the Strait of Hormuz; two ships will cross the Strait daily. This is a welcome and constructive gesture by Iran and deserves appreciation. It…

Houthis launch first missile strikes on Israel as US forces arrive in Middle East

At least two Iraqi police personnel were killed ⁠and two wounded in an airstrike that targeted ⁠a ​Popular Mobilisation ⁠Forces headquarters in Mosul, which ⁠was located ​adjacent ⁠to a ‌police facility, security sources told Reuters on ‌Saturday.

The PMF, ‌known in Arabic as Hashd ⁠al-Shaabi, is an umbrella group of mostly Shi'ite paramilitary factions that was formally integrated into ‌Iraq's state security ​forces and ‌includes several ⁠groups aligned with ⁠Iran.

Hundreds of people have turned out to protest against a memorial service in north London for Iran's former supreme leader.

Protesters clashed with those demonstrating in support of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in a US-backed Israeli air strike in February.

There was a heavy police presence at the Islamic Centre of England in Maida Vale on Saturday afternoon.

The Metropolitan Police and the City of London Police could be seen working to calm outbursts, asking disruptive protesters to move on and marshal traffic.

Two police officers were seen monitoring the protest with a video camera from the balcony of a residential property opposite the centre.

Kuwait International Airport was targeted by multiple drone attacks on Saturday that caused significant damage to its radar system but resulted in no casualties, state news agency KUNA reported, citing the country's Civil Aviation Authority.

The authority's spokesperson later said the attacks were carried out by Iran, its proxies and the armed factions it supports.

Nine paramedics have been killed and seven others wounded in five separate attacks on health care in southern Lebanon, according to the World Health Organisation.

The incidents struck medical teams in five separate villages, WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus who confirmed the news in a social media post.

He added that the repeated strikes have severely disrupted health services in southern Lebanon. Four hospitals and 51 primary healthcare centres are now closed, with several other facilities operating at reduced capacity, he said.

Thousands of U.S. servicemembers have deployed to the Middle East as the war with Iran enters its second month, underscoring the scale of the American military buildup in the region.

On Friday, roughly 3,500 Marines and sailors aboard the USS Tripoli — an amphibious assault ship — entered the U.S. Central Command’s “area of responsibility,” the military command announced on Saturday. CENTCOM oversees U.S. operations in the Middle East.

The vessel also carries transport aircraft, tactical assets as well as strike fighter jets. Photos posted by CENTCOM show soldiers wearing helmets, goggles and combat fatigues.

Since the war broke out in late February, the U.S. has built up a massive military presence near Iran, deploying thousands of Marines and warships to supplement the roughly 50,000 U.S. troops already stationed in the region. Last week, reports also indicated the Pentagon plans to dispatch at least 1,000 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division .

Brendan Rascius reports from New York:

Force of 3,500 Marines and sailors arrive in Middle East

The US Central Command wrote in its announcement that the USS Tripoli warship had arrived in an “area of responsibility” but did not disclose a specific location.

However, the so-called area spans four million square miles across north-east Africa, the Middle East and central and southern Asia, according to the US military.

The warship was previously located in Japan.

Thousands of US marines and sailors have arrived in the Middle East aboard the USS Tripoli, according to US Central Command.

The arrival comes amid reports that President Donald Trump would be sending thousands of military personnel to the region in an attempt to defeat Iran alongside a potential ground invasion.

“The America-class amphibious assault ship serves as the flagship for the Tripoli Amphibious Ready Group/31st Marine Expeditionary Unit composed of 3,500 Sailors and Marines in addition to transport and strike fighter aircraft, as well as amphibious assault and tactical assets,” wrote US Central Command on Saturday.

U.S. Sailors and Marines aboard USS Tripoli (LHA 7) arrived in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, March 27. The America-class amphibious assault ship serves as the flagship for the Tripoli Amphibious Ready Group / 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit composed of … pic.twitter.com/JFWiPBbkd2

Iran has said that an area close to the Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School in Minab county has been hit in a new US-Israeli attack.

On Friday, an emergency meeting was held at the United Nations Human Rights Council, as calls were made for a US investigation into the original attack on 28 February that killed 175 school children and teachers according to Iranian authorities.

Ahmad Nafisi, the political, security and social deputy governor of the southern Hormozgan province, said the attack caused “damage to the storage facilities” at the Martyr Absalan Clinic.

He is reported to have said that the US and Israel used “several drones” in the attack on the medical complex, according to the Fars news agency.

“Fortunately, this attack did not lead to any casualties,” he said, adding that an investigation remains underway.

Qatar has intercepted more drones launched from Iran on Saturday, according to the country’s defence ministry, as the war in the Middle East shows no signs of slowing down.

The Qatari defence ministry said all of the aircraft were intercepted. No casualties have been reported.

As Israel prepares to occupy parts of southern Lebanon, weeks after warning it would take the territory, Palestine’s ambassador to the UK has warned what has happened in Gaza is only the beginning for the troubled region .

Israel says it needs to create a buffer zone in Lebanon, similar to Gaza, so it can fight Hezbollah and keep its territory safe.

Thousands of Lebanese have already been forced into tents and UN calls for Lebanon’s territorial integrity to be respected, appear to have fallen on deaf ears.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the Iran war, launched a month ago jointly with the US, is the fulfillment of a “40 year dream”.

‘What happens in Gaza, will happen everywhere’: Ambassador warns Israel will not stop

The Israeli military killed three Palestinian men in Gaza on Saturday in two separate air strikes, local health officials and medics said on Saturday.

Palestinian health officials said one man was killed in an air strike on a car in the Khan Younis area in southern Gaza, while medics said two adult brothers were killed in Shujiaya, a neighbourhood east of Gaza City.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for on the two air strikes.

More than 680 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since a ceasefire with Hamas came into effect in November, local health officials say.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani condemned an attack on the house of the president of the country's Kurdistan Region, the prime minister's office said in a statement.

Al-Sudani spoke to Kurdish President Nechirvan Barzani by telephone, it said. The attack occurred early on Saturday, according to security sources.

The president is clearly extremely hacked off with media coverage of his war in Iran . Sorry, excursion – a word he likes to use instead of war , as though it is a genteel day trip by charabanc to Frinton-on-Sea.

In the past week, the president has even rounded on BBC coverage (something I find hard to believe he watches much of in the West Wing, but anyway), complaining that its reporting gives the impression that Iran has fought the US to a standstill. Why can’t the corporation, and the rest of the media, see that America and Israel have blown the Iranian armed forces to smithereens, decapitating the political leadership and degrading their ability ever to wage war again?

He has a point. But it’s a narrow one.

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The first images of three journalists killed in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon have been released.

Earlier, we reported two journalists had been killed in attacks on a media car in Lebanon, as reported by Reuters via Al Manar. The number has now risen to three.

Sky News’ reporter Alex Crawford has released images of the journalists.

They include Al-Manar TV correspondent Ali Shuaib, Al-Mayadeen correspondent Fatima Fatouni, and a cameraman, according to the Anadolu agency.

The Israeli military is yet to on the reports.