Middle East crisis live: Iran says at least five people killed by US-Israeli attacks during US pilot rescue operation | US-Israel war on Iran
At least five people killed by US-Israeli attacks during US pilot rescue operations in Iran – report
At least five people were killed in US-Israeli attacks in south-west Iran during rescue operations for the then missing US crew member from the downed F-15 jet, a local governor has been quoted as having said by the Tasnim news agency, which is affiliated to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
The governor of the mountainous provinces of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad said all five people were killed after an attack in the “black mountain” area of Kohgiluyeh.
As we have been reporting, both crew members from the downed F-15 fighter jet have now been rescued. The US president, Donald Trump, said no Americans were killed or injured in the rescue mission, about which few details have been officially confirmed.
Key events
Israel reportedly strikes building in south Beirut after warning
Israel has hit a building in south Beirut after issuing an evacuation warning (see previous post), according to reporting in Lebanese state media.
“The enemy targeted the threatened building in the Ghobeiry area towards Bir Hassan-Jnah,” Lebanon’s state-run national news agency reported. We will bring you more on this as soon as we have it.
Israel orders residents of Beirut’s southern suburbs to flee ahead of an attack
In a post on X, the Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee sent out an “urgent” warning for people in Beirut’s southern suburbs, particularly in the Ghobeiry neighbourhood, to flee ahead of a military attack.
Below the post is a graphic featuring a building marked in red which Adraee said is “affiliated” with Hezbollah, without providing any evidence to support his claim. He said everyone in that building – and the ones adjacent to it on the map – should leave immediately (before airstrikes).
Israel has repeatedly launched deadly strikes on Beirut’s densely populated southern suburbs since its renewed assault on Lebanon that began on 2 March – killing over 1,360 people, including at least 125 children, injuring over 4,130 others, and displacing over a million, according to the Lebanese health ministry.
The renewed Israeli war on Lebanon was launched after Hezbollah – the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group – fired rockets into northern Israel in response to the killing of the former Iranian supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, in joint US-Israeli airstrikes.
Bahrain’s defence force has said its air defence systems have intercepted and destroyed 466 drones and 188 missiles since 28 February, when Israel and the US started the war with a a series of strikes on Iran, killing the former supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
In response, Iran has since launched retaliatory airstrikes against Israel and at Gulf countries, where they have targeted American military bases as well as striking civilian and energy infrastructure.
In its latest update, published on Sunday, Gaza’s health ministry said at least 72,292 Palestinian people have been killed and 172,073 others injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since 7 October 2023.
At least 716 Palestinian people have been killed in Israeli attacks since a ceasefire came into effect in October 2025, according to the ministry, whose figures the UN generally find reliable.
Most of the people killed have been civilians and the true death toll is likely much higher given the number of those still buried under rubble across the Gaza Strip.
Local health authorities said an Israeli airstrike killed at least four Palestinian people in the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday. Medics said the airstrike targeted a group of people in Jaffa Street, near the Darraj neighbourhood in Gaza City.
Bahrain’s Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company has said a fire at its operating units has been brought under control following an Iranian drone attack, with no injuries reported.
In an earlier post, we reported that Bahrain’s civil defence officials were working to contain a fire after an Iranian attack.
The Egyptian foreign minister, Badr Abdelatty, has spoken by phone with US envoy Steve Witkoff, and Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi, as well as with his Turkish and Pakistani counterparts.
The Egyptian foreign ministry said earlier today that Abdelatty discussed a day earlier “ideas and proposals to achieve the required calm” and warned of an “unprecedented explosion” in the Middle East, without elaborating on what that meant.
Egypt, Turkey and Pakistan have emerged as active intermediaries in trying to de-escalate regional tensions, reopen the strait of Hormuz and ultimately bring the US-Israeli war on Iran to an end.
On Saturday, Donald Trump threatened to rain “hell” down on Iran if it refuses to “make a deal or open up the Hormuz Strait” in the next 48 hours.
Iran has rejected any proposal for a temporary ceasefire and wants a permanent end to the war with robust guarantees the US won’t attack again, according to a report in Axios.
At least five people killed by US-Israeli attacks during US pilot rescue operations in Iran – report
At least five people were killed in US-Israeli attacks in south-west Iran during rescue operations for the then missing US crew member from the downed F-15 jet, a local governor has been quoted as having said by the Tasnim news agency, which is affiliated to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
The governor of the mountainous provinces of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad said all five people were killed after an attack in the “black mountain” area of Kohgiluyeh.
As we have been reporting, both crew members from the downed F-15 fighter jet have now been rescued. The US president, Donald Trump, said no Americans were killed or injured in the rescue mission, about which few details have been officially confirmed.
Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group and political party, said that its fighters targeted an Israeli warship 68 nautical miles off the coast of Lebanon early this morning, according to the Tasnim news agency.
Hezbollah was quoted as saying that the warship was preparing to launch attacks on Lebanese territory.
“The targeting operation was carried out with a naval cruise missile after hours of monitoring the target, and a direct hit was confirmed,” it added in a statement. We have not yet been able to independently verify the information in this report. The IDF says it is unaware of the alleged incident.
Operations at petrochemicals company Borouge’s factory in Abu Dhabi have been suspended because of fires that started by falling debris after successful interceptions by air defense systems, but production at the plant has halted.
The plant is in Ruwais, near the UAE’s western border with Saudi Arabia. It is a joint venture of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. and Borealis of Australia.
Authorities in the UAE capital said on Sunday no injuries had been reported, according to Reuters.
Aid groups are warning that the war in the Middle East has upended their ability to get food and medicine to millions of people around the world who are in need, and that the suffering will deepen if the violence continues.
The conflict has cut vital shipping routes, creating a global energy crisis and forcing aid groups to use costlier, more time-consuming routes.
Important pathways such as the strait of Hormuz have been effectively closed and routes from strategic hubs such as Dubai, Doha and Abu Dhabi have also been affected.
The World Food Program says it has a huge amount of food stuck in transit, while the International Rescue Committee has $130,000 worth of pharmaceuticals intended for war-torn Sudan stranded in Dubai and about 670 boxes of therapeutic food meant for severely malnourished children in Somalia stuck in India. The UN Population Fund says it’s delayed sending equipment to 16 countries.
More images of the conflict engulfing the Middle East have come into the newsroom today.
