U.S., Israel bomb multiple Iranian cities, Iran fires missile and drone barrage as war enters 5th day

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The Associated Press

The U.S. And Israel hit Iran's capital and other cities in multiple airstrikes on Wednesday, the fifth day of the war with Iran.

The Israeli military said one of its F-35 stealth fighter jets shot down a piloted Iranian air force YAK-130 fighter over Tehran on Wednesday. It also said Israeli air defences were activated to intercept Iranian missiles fired at targets around the country, and explosions were heard around Jerusalem.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday on X that whoever Iran picks as the country's next supreme leader will be "a target for elimination." Ayatollah Ali Khameni was killed Saturday morning Tehran time in a strike.

The Israeli military also said it hit buildings in Tehran associated with the Basij, the all-volunteer force of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.

Israeli military spokesperson Brig.-Gen Effie Defrin reported a decline in launches from Iran as the country's military capabilities are degraded.

Lebanon was hit in multiple strikes and Israel said it's retaliating against Hezbollah militants after the Iran-backed group fired on Israel. Lebanon's state-run media said at least five people were killed in a strike at a residential complex in the city of Baalbeck. More than 50 people have been killed since the weekend in Lebanon, according to the Health Ministry.

Reuters

Iranians will bid farewell to late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at a ‌ceremony in Tehran late on Wednesday, a senior Iranian official told state media.

Hojjatoleslam Mahmoudi, head of ​Iran’s Islamic Propagation Council, said ​the farewell ceremony would continue for three days and the funeral ​procession will be announced ⁠later.

The official ⁠said the ‌public will be able to pay their respects ⁠at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Prayer Hall starting at 10 p.m. Local time.

The prayer hall "will ‌be receiving visitors and the dear people can attend and take part in the farewell ceremony and ​mark a strong presence once again," he ⁠said in comments carried by Iranian media.

Khamenei, who based his ⁠iron ⁠rule of ​Iran on hostility to the U.S. And Israel, ​was killed ⁠on Saturday, aged 86, in airstrikes by Israel and the U.S., according to Iranian state media.

The Israeli-U.S. Strikes came in for criticism on Wednesday in Spain, Geneva and Russia.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, slammed by U.S. President Donald Trump for refusal to allow American aircraft to use bases in the Mediterranean country, doubled down on his opposition to the attack on Iran.

"We're not going to be complicit in something that's bad for the world, nor contrary to our values and interests simply to avoid reprisals from someone," Sanchez said in a televised address.

From Moscow, the Kremlin accused the U.S. Of using nuclear negotiations with Iran as a pretext to make a bid for regime change.

"There is no doubt that the imaginary, invented Iranian threat, repeatedly stated over many years, was merely a pretext for the implementation of a long-cherished plan to violently overthrow the constitutional order of a sovereign state... That Washington and Tel Aviv dislike," Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters.

A United Nations panel of experts in Geneva said on Wednesday it was "deeply disturbed" by the deaths of children, after the bombing of the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls' school in southern Iran on Saturday, which it said killed more than 160 children, citing reports. 

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday the U.S. "would not ​deliberately target ⁠a school," while Israel has said it is investigating the incident in Minab, Iran.

Reuters

Mojtaba Khamanei, the son ‌of Iran's late Supreme Leader, ​has survived ​the assault on the country ​by U.S. And ⁠Israeli ⁠air ‌strikes that killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ⁠and several military and other ‌influential figures, two Iranian sources told Reuters ​on Wednesday.

He ⁠is seen ⁠by the ⁠establishment ⁠as ​a possible successor ​to his ⁠father, the sources said.

Reuters

The Sri Lankan military has rescued at least ‌30 people on board a sinking Iranian ship ​near Sri Lankan waters on ​Wednesday, the country's foreign minister told parliament.

The ​Sri Lankan navy dispatched ⁠a ⁠rescue ‌mission after a distress call from the Iranian ship, a defense ministry spokesperson ⁠said earlier on Wednesday.

Foreign minister Vijitha Herath did ‌not give further details but said Sri Lanka would take appropriate action.

Local media ​reported the ship ⁠reported distress off the coast of ⁠Galle in the southern ⁠part ⁠of ​the country, and that the injured ​had ⁠been admitted to a hospital in Galle.

The conflict in the Middle East continues to escalate with the U.S. And Israel launching a new wave of strikes, while Israel traded more fire with Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. 

Some key developments:

American forces have struck nearly 2,000 targets and significantly degraded Iran's air and navy defences since its operation against the Islamic Republic began, the top U.S. Military commander in the Middle East says. 

Admiral Brad Cooper, head of Central Command, said in a video posted on X today that the U.S. Military has destroyed 17 Iranian ships and hundreds of ballistic missiles. 

"Today, there is not a single Iranian ship underway in the Arabian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz, or Gulf of Oman, and we will not stop," Cooper said. 

He said Iran has launched more than 500 ballistic missiles and more than 2,000 drone attacks in retaliation, but Iran's ability to strike back is declining. 

"My overall operational assessment is that we are ahead of our game plan."

Update from CENTCOM Commander on Operation Epic Fury: <a href="https://t.co/epEohq64Vf">pic.twitter.com/epEohq64Vf</a>

The U.S. Department of War has released the names and photos of four army reserve soldiers who died in Kuwait on Sunday, "during an unmanned aircraft system attack."

In a news release issued this evening, the U.S. Army Reserve Command said the incident is under investigation.

The deceased are:

The U.S. confirmed Monday a total of six American soldiers were killed in the Iranian strike on a Kuwaiti military facility.

Iranian missile breaks through Israel's Iron Dome in Tel Aviv

What you see is an attempt of Israel's anti-missile defence system to reach that missile, but it breaks through those defences. 

You sometimes hear about the Iron Dome, but that is just sort of one layer of the onion, if you will, to the defence system here. 

As you go deeper into that layer, they can hit bigger and more complicated missiles. If they are overwhelmed, though, it's inevitable that a few break through. 

The Israelis have seen that happen before, but this is a brand new feeling for the Gulf states, who are encountering drone and missile strikes from Iran over the last 72 hours. 

Some of those attacks are breaking through their defences as well. And lots of questions are being asked about the capabilities to intercept incoming missiles from Iran. 

The Associated Press

Israel warned residents of more than 80 villages in Lebanon to evacuate as the Iran-backed militant Hezbollah group said it was ready for an "open war" with Israel in the wake of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

The development came after Israel sent troops into southern Lebanon earlier today, a response to rocket and drone attacks on the north of the country by Hezbollah that started early Monday.

Israel also retaliated with a wave of airstrikes that killed 50 people in Lebanon, including seven children as well as a Palestinian militant and a Hezbollah intelligence official in Beirut's southern suburbs. 

That death toll is a revised figure from an earlier one reported by the Lebanese health ministry, which originally said Monday that 52 people died in the strikes. Health Minister Rakan Nassereddine today reduced that number to 40, then later raised the toll to 50. 

Lebanon also said 335 people were wounded and tens of thousands were displaced.

A senior Hezbollah official said that after more than a year of abiding by a ceasefire as Israel's strikes continued on Lebanon, the group's patience has ended, leaving it with no option but to fight Israel. 

"The Zionist enemy wanted an open war, which it has not stopped since the ceasefire agreement," Mohamoud Komati said.

"So let it be an open war," added the Hezbollah official.

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