Iran war live: Blasts heard near US Baghdad embassy, Israel attacks Lebanon
- Drone activity has been reported in Baghdad’s Green Zone, and blasts have been heard near the US embassy in the Iraqi capital.
- The director of the US’s National Counterterrorism Center, Joe Kent, has resigned over the war on Iran, saying the country posed “no imminent threat”.
- Israel’s Defence Minister Katz says Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani has been killed in an attack. The Israeli army also said it killed Basij force commander Gholamreza Soleimani. Iran has not commented on the claimed killing of Larijani, while the IRGC has confirmed Soleimani’s killing.
- Israeli air attacks have rained down on three neighbourhoods in Beirut while the Israeli army says it launched new attacks on the Iranian capital Tehran.
- Missile and drone attacks continue to target the Gulf region and beyond, with Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates reporting interceptions.
- Visit our live tracker for the latest casualty figures from across the region.
The latest is that there’s been a sharp escalation in drone and aerial activity, not just here in Baghdad, but across the country, as the US-Israel war on Iran continues to spill over into Iraq.
There was drone activity tonight in Baghdad’s Green Zone, where the US embassy is located, and we know that two drones were intercepted, while the third disappeared off the radar.
The anti-aircraft C-RAM system, which can detect and shoot down drones or aerial objects, has been very active tonight. We saw it go up and then heard a series of loud explosions. We understand that some debris has fallen across the capital and that shrapnel fell on a university compound, damaging windows and infrastructure.
However, no injuries have been reported.
Authorities say a fire has also broken out in al-Jadriyah, near the central bank, where debris from an aerial object has fallen near the main gates, causing a fire.
But Baghdad is not the only area affected.
We’ve heard that the Iranian Kurdish opposition headquarters in Erbil was targeted by drones, and there was also air strikes against a tribal meeting in Anbar province. And debris also fell on agricultural land near Mosul and in other parts of the country. We’ve heard drones and air strikes have also forced road closures.
All this shows that there is a constant threat of attack in Iraq. There’s no real let-up, as Iraqi security forces are also trying to neutralise these threats. The real issue is that some of these drones are being launched from within Baghdad, which raises serious security questions.