Hezbollah leader vows the Iranian-backed group WON’T surrender – live

Naim Qassem, the head of Iranian-backed Lebanese terror group Hezbollah, has said it will not surrender ‘no matter the sacrifices’.

Speaking for the first time since the Iran war broke out, he said: ‘We are facing aggression… our choice is to confront it until the ultimate sacrifice, and we will not surrender’.

The Iranian proxy force fired missiles and drones towards Haifa, Israel, on Sunday in retaliation for US-Israeli strikes which killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Israel has continued to trade blows with the group, targeting Hezbollah strongholds – in particular the Dahieh suburb of Beirut.

Hezbollah has significant political authority in Lebanon but the country’s president Joseph Aoun announced a ban on Hezbollah’s military activity, calling it ‘a sovereign and final decision’.

Twenty people in Lebanon died following Israeli strikes on Wednesday, Social Affairs minister Haneen Sayed said, as thousands have been forced to evacuate their homes.

A coalition of Kurdish fighters have begun a military offensive into Iran, according to a report by Israeli channel I24 News.

An official, cited by the network, claimed fighters began taking combat positions inside Iranian territory on Monday.

‘The ground military movements by Kurdish forces against Iran have already started since the midnight of March 2,’ they added.

The official claimed fighters have moved into positions around the southern mountains of Mariwan in western Iran.

The US and Israel are thought to be seeking an armed uprising and have been smuggling weapons to Kurdish volunteers since last year.

Yesterday it was reported that an on-the-ground rebellion could begin in the coming days after the American-Israeli offensive struck western Iranian security targets to degrade their capabilities.

Donald Trump said everyone who wants to lead Iran ‘ends up dead.’

‘We’re in a very strong position now, and their leadership is just rapidly going. Everybody that seems to want to be a leader, they end up dead,’ he said on Wednesday.

Donald Trump insisted the military effort in Iran is doing ‘very well’ at an unrelated White House event on Wednesday.

‘Their leadership is just rapidly going,’ Trump said. ‘Everybody that seems to want to be a leader, they end up dead. It’s an amazing, an amazing thing that’s taking place before your eyes.’

“We’re doing very well on the war front, to put it mildly,’ he added. ‘I would say – somebody said on a scale of 10, where would you rate it? I said about a 15.’

A vigil has been held for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Manchester.

Iran’s Supreme Leader was killed on Saturday in joint US-Israeli strikes.

A candlelit vigil took place at 8pm on Wednesday Sidney Street in the city centre, inviting people to attend an event for the ‘late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Husseini Khamenei’.

Posters said the event, where mourners waved Palestinian flags, was supported by the Friends of Islamic Centre of Manchester.

A number of Islamic socieities at universities in the UK have been condemned after they shared tributes to the ayatollah.

Iran has been warned to stop its attacks on the Gulf nations by the Arab League.

The League, made up of 22 member states, said the Iranian strikes are creating an ‘unprecedented state of hostility’.

Chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit demanded Tehran stop the attacks, which he called a ‘strategic mistake,’ saying ‘Iran must come to its senses.’

A fire has broken out at the oil refinery hub in Fujeirah, United Arab Emirates after it was hit by debris from an intercepted drone

Emmanuel Macron has warned Benjamin Netanyahu against launching a ground invasion of Lebanon.

Israel has been trading fire with Hezbollah since the Iranian backed terror group fired a series of missiles at Haifa in retaliation for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s killing.

But the French President told Israel to ‘refrain’ from a further ground invasion.

In a statement, he said: ‘I called on the Israeli prime minister to preserve Lebanon’s territorial integrity and to refrain from a ground offensive.’

Macron, who also spoke with Lebanon’s president and prime minister today, called on Hezbollah ‘to immediately cease its attacks against Israel and beyond’.

The Iranian president has praised Spain for its ‘ethics’ after they banned the US from using their shared military bases to launch attacks against the regime.

In a post on X, Masoud Pezeshkian said: ‘Spain’s responsible conduct in opposing the Zionist-American coalition’s flagrant human rights violations and military aggression against countries, including Iran, shows that ethics and awakened consciences still exist in the West.

‘I commend Spanish officials for their stances.’

Spain has hit back at the White House after it claimed the country had backtracked on its refusal to cooperate with the US over strikes against Iran.

Donald Trump said he would be ‘cutting all ties’ with Spain after they refused the US army permisson to use their bases to launch attacks against the regime.

But on Wednesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Spain had ‘agreed to cooperate with the US military’.

But Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares immediately denied the government had changed its position on supporting the military operations against Iran.

‘I can refute (the White House spokesperson),’ Albares told Spanish radio station Cadena Ser.

‘The position of the Spanish government regarding the war in the Middle East, the bombing of Iran and the use of our bases has not changed one iota.’

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A senior Iranian cleric has issued a fatwa calling on Muslims to ‘shed the blood of Israelis and Donald Trump’.

Abdollah Javadi-Amoli said their killing is what is required of devout Shiite Muslims, according to Iran’s state media.

It comes after another cleric, Nasser Makarem Shirazi, delivered a formal religious decree that claimed all Muslims were obliged to avenge the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

Shirazi stated that the US and Israel were the ‘main perpetrators of this crime.’

A fatwa is an Islamic ruling made by religious authorities or scholars whose followers are compelled to follow.

Experts have warned that the extreme proclamation means the world is more likely to see Iranian sleeper cells and lone wolves carry out horrific terror attacks at sites including embassies, restaurants and shops.