LIVE: Israel hits Iran with wave of strikes as war enters fifth day

Donald Trump last night launched another withering attack on Keir Starmer, dismissing him as ‘no Churchill’.

In a major blow to the Special Relationship, the US President said he was ‘not happy with the UK’ and branded it ‘very, very uncooperative’ over his assault on Iran.

Sir Keir was also under fire closer to home as Britain yesterday scrambled to protect its RAF base on Cyprus, which was hit by a suicide drone thought to have been fired by Tehran’s proxies late on Sunday night.

The UK was left embarrassed as military minnow Greece will have warships in position to protect RAF Akrotiri days before the Royal Navy will be anywhere near the danger zone.

And Sir Keir announced that Type 45 destroyer HMS Dragon, along with helicopters with counter-drone capabilities, would head to the Mediterranean only after Emmanuel Macron ordered a French frigate to the region.

Cyprus has closed its airspace above Larnaca airport after a suspicious object was identified.

Yesterday, Sir Keir Starmer announced the UK will deploy the Royal Navy warship HMS Dragon and helicopters with anti-drone capabilities to Cyprus to protect British interests.

It comes after RAF Akrotiri was hit by a drone

This is a breaking news post and will be updated

by Arthur Parashar

The Government has announced its first emergency evacuation flight to help stranded British nationals escape the war-torn Middle East.

A repatriation flight is currently scheduled to leave Oman’s Muscat International Airport at 11pm local time (7pm GMT) tonight and will prioritise the most vulnerable Brits first as attacks continue to explode across the region.

British nationals and their spouse or partner, and their children under the age of 18, with a valid travel document are all eligible.

The Foreign Office said it would contact British nationals to secure them a way out of the Middle East, and urged people not to travel to the airport unless they have been officially called.

British expats have been increasingly frustrated by the lack of urgency over getting them out of the Middle East – with British Airways running an emergency evacuation flight with more than 100 empty seats.

The Israeli military called on people to ‘immediately’ leave 13 towns and villages across southern Lebanon today ahead of strikes against Hezbollah

A similar evacuation warning had earlier been issued for 16 other southern towns and villages.

Hezbollah carried out a series of strikes against Israel yesterday, claiming to have targeted sites including the northern Haifa naval base in retaliation for Israeli strikes in southern Beirut.

Since Monday, Israeli strikes have killed at least 50 people and wounded 335 in Lebanon, the health ministry said before the overnight strikes.

Lebanese authorities on Monday recorded the displacement of more than 58,000 people from areas targeted by strikes.

The Israeli military has said it will continue to strike Hezbollah until the Lebanese group disarms.

Sri Lanka has today rescued 32 sailors aboard the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena, which sank just outside the island’s territorial waters.

Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath said no information was immediately available on the cause of the explosion that sank the vessel.

He told parliament that the ‘critically wounded’ sailors were taken to a hospital in the island’s south.

The 180-crew frigate had issued a distress call at dawn.

Sri Lanka’s defence ministry said it was searching for the other crew of the IRIS Dena, which went down about 40 kilometres (25 miles) south of the island.

Herath said two Sri Lankan navy vessels and an aircraft were deployed for the rescue operation, but did not say what caused the Iranian warship to sink.

An opposition legislator asked in parliament whether the vessel had been bombed as part of the ongoing US-Israeli attacks against Iran, but there was no immediate response from the government.

These pictures show the aftermath of more Israeli airstrikes in Beirut which took place overnight.

A hotel in the capital’s eastern suburb of Hazmieh was completely destroyed in the latest attack.

It comes as Israel targets Hezbollah militants in the Lebanese capital alongside its airstrikes in Tehran

Airstrikes have caused widespread destruction in Tehran

The Israel Defence Forces has declared it is now carrying out a ‘broad wave’ of attacks in Tehran.

The IDF says the ‘terrorist infrastructure’ will be targeted in what it highlighted was the ‘tenth wave’ of attacks on the Iranian capital.

Kuwait’s health ministry has announced an 11-year-old girl was killed after being hit by falling shrapnel following waves of Iranian attacks across the Gulf.

The Gulf has borne the brunt of much of Tehran’s response since the US and Israel launched a massive air campaign against Iran over the weekend with at least nine people killed in the region in the fallout.

At least four US soldiers have also been killed in Kuwait and the US embassy there was targeted by drones, while its energy infrastructure has also been hit in recent days.

‘Resuscitation was performed in the ambulance while the girl was being transported to the hospital, and attempts continued for nearly half an hour upon arrival at Al-Amiri Hospital.

‘However, she passed away due to her injuries,’ said the ministry in a statement posted on X.

Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney has suggested the US and Israel’s war with Iran is ‘inconsistent with international law’ during a visit to Australia.

Mr Carney has called for de-escalation in the Middle East and said all countries engaged in hostilities must respect international rules of engagement.

When asked about previous comments he made supporting the United Nations Charter’s prohibition of the use of force, he said ‘it appears that these actions are inconsistent with international law’.

‘It’s a judgement for others to make. I’m not a lawyer, let alone an international legal expert,’ he told reporters in Sydney.

He added it was up to the US and Israel to make the case whether they were consistent with international law.

The Saudi defence ministry said two cruise missiles have been intercepted over Riyadh while a separate drone attack was also thwarted.

Two cruise missiles were intercepted and destroyed in Al-Kharj district, a defence ministry statement said.

While the official Saudi Press Agency cited a ministry spokesman as saying ‘nine drones were intercepted and destroyed immediately upon entering the Kingdom’s airspace’.

On Monday, the CIA station at the US Embassy in Saudi Arabia was hit on Monday by a suspected Iranian drone.

by Eliana Silver

Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz today threatened to assassinate any Iranian leader picked to succeed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in US-Israeli strikes on Tehran.

This comes as Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has reportedly been appointed Iran’s new Supreme Leader.

In a post on X, Katz said: ‘Any leader selected by the Iranian terror regime to continue leading the plan for Israel’s destruction, threatening the United States, the free world and countries in the region, and suppressing the Iranian people, will be a certain target for assassination, no matter his name or where he hides.’

Mojtaba, 56, Ali Khamenei’s second oldest son, has strong links to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and was chosen by Iran’s Assembly of Experts ‘under pressure from the Revolutionary Guards’, according to Iranian opposition outlet Iran International.

Mojtaba is not a high-ranking cleric, has never held office and does not have an official role in the regime.

Top White House officials have been in active discussions with Kurdish leaders in Iraq about providing them with military support to strike the Iranian regime.

Iranian Kurdish militants have thousands of soldiers along the Iraq-Iran border with major support in Northern Iraq’s Kurdistan region.

An on-ground rebellion could begin in the coming days.

Since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, this semi-autonomous region has served as a haven for local Kurdish groups that pose a military threat to Iran’s regime.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has targeted these groups with dozens of drone strikes since the start of the war on Saturday.

Yesterday President Donald Trump reportedly spoke with the president of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, one of the major Kurdish opposition groups targeted by Tehran’s military.