War in the Middle East: Latest developments

A US flag flutters in the wind as the CHIOS crude oil tanker sits anchored off the coast of the Chevron’s El Segundo Refinery in El Segundo, California Here are the latest main events related to the war in the Middle East: Iranian news agency Tasnim reported that several explosions were heard in Tehran on Thursday morning. It said the country had activated its defences in response. Iran launched a fresh round of missiles at Israel earlier Thursday, triggering alerts in several areas including Tel Aviv, according to the Israeli military and Tehran’s state media.

Explosions were heard in Jerusalem after warnings of incoming Iranian missile fire, according to AFP journalists, but Israel’s emergency services said there were no known casualties. An air strike hit the Hezbollah stronghold of south Beirut early Thursday, after Israel had issued a warning to residents. Elsewhere, three people were killed in a pair of Israeli strikes on vehicles along Beirut’s airport highway, Lebanon’s health ministry said.

A tanker was hit by a “large explosion” in the waters off Kuwait, causing an oil spill, British maritime security agency UKMTO said. “The Master of a tanker at anchor, reports witnessing and hearing a large explosion on the port side then seeing a small craft leave the vicinity” off the Gulf state’s Mubarak Al-Kabeer area, the agency posted on X. Qatar has begun evacuating residents of its capital living near the US embassy as a precautionary measure, the interior ministry said, after Iranian strikes. A ballistic missile launched from Iran and heading towards Turkish airspace via Iraq and Syria was destroyed by NATO air defense systems, Turkish officials said.