US embassy in Iraq hit as Mideast War enters third week / Photo: - - US ARMY/AFP
US embassy in Iraq hit as Mideast War enters third week
Explosions rocked cities across the Middle East on Saturday as the US embassy in Baghdad was hit by a drone strike and Tehran warned Emiratis to stay away from ports as it targets the world's energy supply lines.
Washington's embassy in Iraq was hit for the second time since February 28, when the United States and Israel attacked Iran and plunged the Gulf into a conflict that has sent shockwaves through the global economy.
Waves of drone, missile and aerial bombing have displaced millions in the region and reportedly killed more than 1,200 people in Iran.
Clouds of dark black smoke were seen rising from Fujairah, home to a major Emirati port and home to oil storage and an export terminal. Shortly beforehand, the Iranian military had issued a warning for Emirati civilians to avoid port areas exposed to drone and missile strikes.
Despite facing superior US and Israeli firepower, Iran appears determined to fight on, launching missile and drone attacks against at least 10 of is neighbours and effectively barring the chokepoint Strait of Hormuz to sea traffic.
A cloud of black smoke rose above the US diplomatic mission in the Iraqi capital, an AFP journalist saw.
It followed strikes against the powerful Iran-backed group Kataeb Hezbollah, killing two members including a "key figure", security sources said.
President Donald Trump said Friday that US forces had hit Iran's Kharg Island, its biggest oil export hub, and "obliterated" military targets while sparing its energy facilities.
Iranian media confirmed there was no damage to oil facilities on the island.
Iran's threats to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz have brought traffic to a virtual halt on a route that normally carries one fifth of global oil supplies.
Crude oil prices have surged more than 40 percent since the war began.
Iran had threatened US-linked oil and energy firms would "immediately be destroyed and turned into a pile of ashes" if the US struck its oil facilities, according to Iranian media.
Trump said the US Navy would start escorting tankers through the Strait of Hormuz "very soon" to restore oil exports.
- Tabriz warning -
Strikes have continued in Iran, with heavy blasts shaking the Tehran late Friday.
The Israeli army told people in an industrial zone in the west of Iran's northern city of Tabriz to leave ahead of military operations on Saturday.
Iran's health ministry says more than 1,200 people have been killed by US and Israeli attacks, numbers that could not be independently verified.
The UN refugee agency has estimated that up to 3.2 million people have been displaced inside Iran since the war started.
Trump described Iran as "totally defeated" and in search of a deal he was unwilling to consider.
According to the Pentagon, the US and Israel have struck more than 15,000 targets in Iran over the past two weeks.
Israel's military said it conducted 7,600 strikes on the country, most of them against its missile programme.
Iran's rulers appear intent on showing they will come through the war intact and in control, despite their supreme leader Ali Khamenei being killed at the start of the US-Israeli campaign.
Khamenei's son Mojtaba Khamenei was named the new supreme leader, but has been absent from public view and is said to be wounded.
Within Iran, the Revolutionary Guards have warned they will crackdown heavily on any anti-government protests, after demonstrations in January in which several thousand people were killed.
Iranian authorities have maintained an internet blackout since the war started.
The United States is reportedly sending reinforcements that could open up options beyond the airborne campaign.
The Wall Street Journal and New York Times said Friday the Pentagon had dispatched the Japan-based amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli to the region along with its complement of some 2,500 Marines.
The US military has lost 13 personnel, including six aboard a refuelling aircraft that crashed in Iraq, an incident US officials said was not the result of hostile fire.
- Hamas urges restraint -
Qatar said it intercepted two missiles Saturday and evacuated key areas after blasts were heard in the capital Doha.
Interceptors were seen downing two projectiles over the Qatari capital's downtown area and blasts were heard, according to AFP journalists.
Saudi Arabia's defence ministry said its forces had intercepted dozens of drones on Friday.
Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas called on Saturday for Iran to refrain from targeting neighbouring countries, in a rare breach between the two allies, though it affirmed Tehran's right to defend itself.
Beyond the Gulf, Turkey said NATO forces shot down a ballistic missile launched from Iran -- the third such interception in the war.
Lebanon has been drawn into the war, too, after the Iran-backed Hezbollah attacked Israel following the death of Khamenei.
An Israeli strike in southern Lebanon killed a dozen doctors, paramedics and nurses at a healthcare clinic, Lebanese health authorities said Saturday.
According to the Lebanese authorities, at least 773 people have been killed by Israeli attacks in Lebanon aimed at wiping out Iranian ally Hezbollah.
R.Weber--HHA
