The UN says it is seeking an additional $331.5 million to tackle a worsening humanitarian crisis in Lebanon. Meanwhile, Israel is carrying out fresh strikes on the south of the country.
Bahrain activates air raid sirens
Air raid sirens have sounded in Bahrain in the early hours of Saturday morning.
“Citizens and residents are urged to remain calm and head to the nearest safe place,” the Bahraini Interior Ministry said on X
It comes after another gulf state, Kuwait, reported intercepting “hostile” drones and missiles.
Kuwait intercepts ‘hostile’ drones
Kuwait’s military said early Saturday its air defenses responded to “hostile” drone and missile attacks. It did not specify their exact origin.
“The General Staff of the Kuwaiti Armed Forces confirms that any explosions that may be heard are the result of air defense systems intercepting hostile attacks,” the Kuwaiti military said on X.
The attack comes days after a strike on Kuwait’s International Airport killed one and wounded dozens more.
US says 4 Iranian drones launched toward Hormuz shot down
US Central Command forces have shot down four Iranian “one-way attack drones” they said were launched toward the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
US forces also struck Iranian coastal surveillance radar sites in the city of Goruk and the island of Qeshm on the Persian Gulf, the US CENTCOM said on X, saying the strikes aimed to “defend against further attacks.”
“The attack drones posed an immediate threat to regional maritime traffic,” the US Central Command said.
Iran football team granted US visas for World Cup, officials say
Members of Iran’s World Cup football team were granted US visas, clearing the way for them to enter the US, several US officials were cited as saying
The team’s participation in the World Cup games on US soil was complicated by the Iran war, launched by the US and Israel in late February. A few weeks after the war began, US President Donald Trump said he didn’t think it was “appropriate” for the Iranian team to participate.
Tom Barrack, the US ambassador to Turkey, said it was the Ankara embassy staff who processed the Iranian team’s visas.
“Sports transcends borders, and we look forward to welcoming competitors and fans from around the world,” he wrote on X.
US officials, speaking to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the visas publicly, said all players on the Iranian team, along with players, coaches, trainers and some support staff, were in the process of receiving visas.
The Iranian team members are currently at their training base in Tijuana, Mexico on the border with California, and will play their first two matches against New Zealand and Belgium in Inglewood near Los Angeles this month. Later in June, Iran will head up the west coast to Seattle for a match against Egypt.
READ — Germany’s Iran war lessons after 100 days
The war waged by the US and Israel against Iran has now lasted 100 days. In that time, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has drastically changed his stance on the conflict.
Initially, he appeared taken aback by the US-Iraeli strikes on Iran on February 28.
No prominent legal scholar has since claimed that these attacks are covered by international law, nor has any member of the German federal government. Yet the phrase “violation of international law” has not yet crossed Merz’s lips.
Instead, he referred to the the Iranian government as a “terrorist regime,” and said “categorizing the events under international law will have relatively little effect,” adding that the US and Israel had “good reasons” for the attacks.
Then, at the end of April, Merz appeared to make an abrupt about-face. Speaking to students, he said the United States had “no convincing strategy” in the Iran war and argued that Iran’s leadership had “humiliated” Washington.
Lebanon tells Iran to stop treating country as ‘bargaining chip’
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has urged Iran to stop treating his country as a “bargaining chip” in its negotiations with the United States to end the Middle East war.
Israel and Lebanon-based Hezbollah have been fighting each other since early March, after the Tehran-backed militant group fired rockets at Israel in response to the US-Israeli strikes on Iran.
“If I may address a word to Iran, it is this: have mercy on our south, stop treating it and its people as merely a bargaining chip to improve the terms of your negotiations,” Salam told a press conference on Friday.
Separately, in an interview with US broadcaster CNN, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun told Iran not to interfere in his country.
“It’s not your country, it’s our country … It’s not your job to interfere into our country,” Aoun said, adding that “they are using Lebanon as a bargaining chip in their negotiation with the United States. It’s unacceptable.”
He also told Hezbollah that diplomacy was the only way to end the conflict with Israel, saying there was “no other way but to sit and talk, no other way to solve this problem and to save what’s left except through negotiation and diplomacy.”
Iran says fired ‘warning missiles’ at US warships in Gulf of Oman
Iran’s military says it fired warning missiles and drones at two US destroyers in the Gulf of Oman, forcing the vessels to leave the area, according to Iranian state media.
The operation was in response to “maritime misconduct and harassment, as well as the hijacking of commercial vessels and oil tankers by the terrorist naval forces of the United States,” the military said.
The US Central Command denied Iran’s claims in a post on X.
“Iranian forces did NOT attack or fire at US Navy warships. Doing so would be a gross violation of the ceasefire,” Central Command said.
It added that its forces “continue to operate freely in regional waters” and were enforcing the US counterblockade on Iranian ports.
Earlier, US forces said they had intercepted a sanctioned oil tanker in the Indian Ocean overnight and said they would continue to block “vessels providing material support to Iran.”
Tensions remain high in the waters around Iran, where the US is imposing a blockade on Iranian ports and Tehran is largely preventing ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
Lebanon parliament speaker: Hezbollah will withdraw if Israel pulls back
Lebanese Parliament Speaker and Hezbollah ally Nabih Berri says the Iran-backed group will withdraw from southern Lebanon if Israeli troops agree to leave the country.
“I agree to … Hezbollah’s withdrawal from south of the Litani River in parallel with an Israeli withdrawal from the areas it occupies,” Berri, who acts as a mediator on behalf of Hezbollah, said in a statement.
He added that there must also be “a complete and comprehensive ceasefire without conditions.”
Israel and Lebanon’s government agreed to a conditional truce in Washington this week. But that deal was rejected by Hezbollah, who demanded a full Israeli withdrawal.
Israeli forces have staged their deepest incursion into Lebanon in two decades.
Source : https://www.dw.com/en/middle-east-un-doubles-lebanon-aid-appeal-amid-israel-war/live-77434702