Chaos for Brits as first chartered flight fails to take off: LIVE

• The Israeli military said Iran fired a number of missiles toward Israel in the early hours of Thursday, though there were no immediate reports of casualties.
• Two Israeli strikes near Lebanon’s capital have left three people dead and six injured. Lebanese media reported the attacks hit a road leading to Beirut-Rafik Hariri International Airport, citing the country’s health ministry.
• The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) warned that the escalating conflict is already driving large-scale displacement. The agency said roughly 100,000 people fled Tehran within the first two days after the US-Israeli attack. In Lebanon, it estimates around 58,000 people are staying in collective shelters, although Lebanese officials say the figure exceeds 80,000.
• The US military has released the name of a fifth soldier killed in an Iranian drone strike in Kuwait during the early days of the war, and has also identified who is believed to be a sixth service member killed in the same attack.
• A UK government-chartered flight meant to bring British nationals back from Oman did not depart on Wednesday evening as scheduled due to a technical fault. Qatar Airways said it plans to run additional relief flights from the Middle East to several European destinations on Thursday.
• Authorities in Doha have started evacuating residents living close to the US Embassy as a precaution, according to Qatar’s interior ministry. The step follows drone attacks earlier this week targeting US diplomatic sites in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, as well as the US consulate in Dubai.
• A tanker sailing off the coast of Kuwait has been rocked by a “large explosion”, causing an oil spill, according to Britain’s maritime monitoring body, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations.

Iran’s army has said it launched several long-range Arash attack drones during the night, claiming they struck fuel tanks at the Ramat David Airbase in Israel.

Iranian state news agency Fars also reported that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) hit a US oil tanker in the northern Persian Gulf, leaving the vessel on fire.

In a statement, the IRGC said that during the conflict Iran would control passage through the Strait of Hormuz.

The claims have not yet been independently verified.

The first Government mercy flight for Britons stranded in the Middle East has been branded a ‘s***show’ after it failed to take off last night.

The aircraft chartered by the Foreign Office for British nationals being evacuated from Muscat to the UK was grounded because the pilot had exceeded his hours and ‘needed to rest’, according to passengers.

People due to take off for home last night became ‘very agitated’ and started ‘banging windows’ with some having ‘panic attacks’ when it failed to take off to escape the widening Iran war, one passenger claimed.

The evacuation was a ‘total shambles’ because checking in for the flight took at least four hours and then they waited on the plane for another 90 minutes before being taken off again, the person on board said.

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Cyprus has said that the Shahed drone which struck a British airbase on the island’s southern coast was launched from Beirut.

A Cypriot official, speaking anonymously because they are not authorised to comment publicly, confirmed that the drone responsible for damaging a hangar at RAF Akrotiri just after midnight on Monday had taken off from the Lebanese capital.

Two additional drones detected around midday on Monday were intercepted by British fighter jets scrambled from RAF Akrotiri.

Since the initial strikes, there have been multiple false alarms over suspected drone sightings.

Italy is preparing to send air defence support to Gulf countries under threat from Iranian air strikes, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has announced.

Like the UK, France and Germany, Italy ‌intends to send assistance to Gulf countries, specifically in the field of defence and in particular, air defence.

This ⁠is not only because they are friendly nations, but above ⁠all because tens of thousands ⁠of Italians live ⁠in the region and around 2,000 Italian troops are deployed there – people ‌we want to, and must, protect.

Explosions have been reported in both Qatar and Bahrain this morning amid a series of Iranian missile strikes across the region. Witnesses in Doha, Qatar’s capital, told AFP reporters that blasts could be heard across the city.

Earlier, Qatari authorities began evacuating residents living near the US Embassy in Doha as a “precautionary” measure. Explosions were also reported over Bahrain’s capital, Manama.

The Gulf states have been repeatedly targeted by Iranian drones and missiles, in retaliation for the US-Israeli strikes against Iran.

The first flights carrying European nationals out of the Middle East have begun arriving back in Europe as the conflict enters its sixth day.

Spanish citizens were flown out of Oman on a military repatriation flight overnight.

The aircraft departed at around the same time a UK charter flight had been scheduled to leave Oman, but that plane was grounded due to technical issues.

Meanwhile, a Lufthansa flight from Muscat – operating as the German government’s first evacuation service – has now landed at Frankfurt Airport in Germany.

Australia’s prime minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed ‘military assets’ are being sent to the Middle East to help bring stranded citizens home.

While the government is urging Australians to use commercial flights where possible, it has also launched Operation Beech to support the roughly 24,000 Australians currently in the United Arab Emirates.

So far, two aircraft have been deployed as part of the effort.

Mr Albanese said:

I thank those Australians going into a dangerous situation in order to help their fellow Australians.

The first UK government-organised flight intended to bring British citizens home from the Middle East has been delayed.

The Foreign Office confirmed the charter plane did not depart from Oman last night as originally planned.

A spokesperson said:

The UK government charter flight was not able to depart from Oman yesterday as planned due to technical issues. The flight is now expected to depart later today.

An Iranian military commander has vowed the country will continue fighting the US until it achieves its objectives.

Kioumars Heydari said Iran ‘will not abandon this war’ until it has delivered heavy blows to the US, according to comments reported by Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency.

It does not matter to us how many days this war lasts. We have experienced an eight-year war, and we will end this war only when we have achieved our objectives and made the enemy regret and despair over its disgraceful act.

The US Senate has thrown its backing behind Donald Trump’s military campaign in Iran after voting down an attempt to curb the conflict.

Lawmakers considered a bill that would have forced the US president to seek congressional approval before continuing military action against Tehran.

But the measure failed in the 100-member chamber, with 53 senators voting against the bipartisan proposal.