French soldier is killed after drone strike on base in Iraq – Updates

The US military has said a refuelling aircraft has crashed in Iraq with rescue efforts currently underway.

A second plane involved in the incident is understood to have landed safely.

‘One of the aircraft went down in western Iraq, and the second landed safely. This was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire,’ US Central Command, which is responsible for American forces in the Middle East, said in a statement.

The KC-135 is at least the fourth US military aircraft lost during the war in the Middle East, after three F-15s were shot down by friendly fire over Kuwait.

It is unknown how many people were on board at the time of the crash.

Speaking at the White House this evening, Donald Trump has once again touched on the Iran War, describing his opponents as ‘a nation of terror and hate’ and suggesting the country is ‘paying a big price right now’.

It echoes remarks he made at a rally in Kentucky yesterday, where he stated his administration had already ‘won’ the conflict in the Middle East.

‘Let me say we’ve won,’ he said. ‘You know, you never like to say too early you won. We won. We won, in the first hour it was over, but we won.’

Adding how the US did not want to ‘leave [the conflict] early’, he said: ‘We’ve got to finish the job.’

A French soldier was killed in the attack on a joint base in Iraqi Kurdistan, President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday.

A member of the armed forces ‘died for France during an attack in the Erbil region of Iraq,’ Macron posted on X, confirming the first French military death in the Middle East war that began late last month when Israel and the United States struck Iran.

The strike on the headquarters – which France shares with Iraqi Kurdistan’s Peshmerga forces – involved two drones.

No Peshmerga personnel were on the site at the time of the attack, according to Governor of Erbil Omed Koshnaw.

The base lies in the Makhmour area of Iraqi Kurdistan, around 80km (50 miles) from the capital, Erbil.

‘This is all the movement of the terrorist militias in Iraq and we reiterate that the Iraqi government are not taking it seriously,’ Mr Koshnaw said.

‘If these outlaws are part of the Iraqi government, then they are responsible. If they are not, then their security apparatus has a duty of reining these groups in.’

The soldiers were ‘engaged in training activities on counterterrorism with Iraqi partners’, according to a member of the general staff.

The troops were rushed immediately to the nearest medical facility.

The US has granted permission for countries to purchase sanctioned Russian oil and petroleum currently loaded on ships.

US Treasury Department Secretary Scott Bessent said the measures were designed to ‘promote stability in global energy markets’ during the conflict.

The authorisation will last until April 11. Oil prices soared back above $100 a barrel on Thursday.

Mr Bessent said: ‘This narrowly tailored, short-term measure applies only to oil already in transit and will not provide significant financial benefit to the Russian government.’

Russian oil has been placed under sanctions since the country invaded Ukraine in 2022.

French President Emmanuel Macron this week urged countries not to waver from the commitment not to buy Russian oil.

US President Donald Trump has speculated that Mojtaba Khamenei is indeed alive, but has been injured.

Asked whether the Supreme Leader is alive, Mr Trump said: ‘I think he probably is.’

He added: ‘I think he is damaged, but I think he’s probably alive in some form, you know.’

Khamenei on Thursday released the first statement to his war-torn nation despite rumours he is incapacitated his hospital with severe injuries.

His attributed remarks were instead read out by a news anchor on Iranian state television this afternoon.

The Supreme Leader called for US bases to be closed across the Middle East and vowed to ‘avenge martyrs’ in his first message to the nation.

A fresh Iranian missile launch has been tracked by Israel’s armed forces.

The Magen David Adom ambulance service said paramedics are scouring the area ‘where a report was received’, without elaborating on the remark.

It came as sirens sounded in Lebanon border town of Metula, following an attack attributed to Hezbollah.

Some reaction is coming in from the US after a refuelling plane crashed in Iraq.

A second plane involved in the incident is understood to have landed safely.

‘One of the aircraft went down in western Iraq, and the second landed safely. This was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire,’ US Central Command, which is responsible for American forces in the Middle East, said in a statement.

Democratic Congressman Jim Himes told the BBC: ‘This is part of the inevitable cost of a conflict.

‘Even the best military doesn’t operate without accidents and that’s what appeared to have occurred here.

‘We pray for the safety of the crew, but this is the cost that is to be paid when a nation goes to war.’

by David Haigh

Three massive explosions rocked Dubai at 11.26 local time yesterday morning. A friend in the United Arab Emirates, terrified, sent me three messages – and in speaking out, ran a risk as dangerous as the missiles.

Earlier, at the city’s airport, four people had been injured after a pair of drones evaded the air defences, sending passengers and staff scrambling from the plate-glass windows and heading for the shelters.

Despite the obvious dangers, Dubai International (DXB) remains open, running a reduced service.

On Saturday, a drone was caught on video sending up a huge pall of smoke near the terminal. The official Dubai Media Office continued to insist that ‘no incident’ had occurred at the airport.

Iranian barrages, during the 13 days of the war so far, have been worst in the mornings and at night, according to another of my contacts. But no time of day can be considered safe. The images of Dubai’s president and its crown prince, strolling around the shopping mall and dining in restaurants, are elaborately staged propaganda, a dangerous lie.

The truth is that the holidaymakers, and anyone else who can afford to leave, are fleeing for dear life. High-rise hotels, with rapidly dwindling occupancy, have been ordered to close rooms above the tenth floor, and restaurateurs along the Dubai Marina and Jumeirah Beach are desperately trying to lure inside the remnants of passing trade.

The Israeli armed forces have commenced ‘several waves’ of strikes in Beirut and southern Lebanon targeting ‘Hezbollah infrastructure’.

The IDF posted on Telegram that it had hit ‘several command centres’ which had been used to organise attacks against Israel.

These images show missiles in the night sky above Hebron in the West Bank.

They are believed to be have been fired from Iran in retaliation for Israeli strikes.

The FBI has said it is investigating an attack at a synagogue in Michigan as a ‘targeted act of violence against the Jewish community.’

Sheriff Bouchard previously confirmed that synagogue security engaged in gunfire with the suspect after he drove into the building.

Emergency responders also found a ‘large amount of explosives’ in the back of the vehicle, a law enforcement source told CNN.

Prayer at holy sites in Jerusalem has been ‘temporarily suspended’ as a result of Iranian missile threats, Israel’s foreign ministry has said.

A statement read: ‘One of them struck a few hundred meters from the Old City, the Western Wall, Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.’