Lebanon says 83 children among almost 400 killed in a week of conflict between Hezbollah and Israel

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Lebanon’s well being minister stated Sunday that 83 children are among the 394 killed up to now in the conflict between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group over the previous week.

Israel’s renewed offensive started final week after Hezbollah launched rockets towards northern Israel through the opening days of the struggle.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows beneath.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Bahrain accused Iran of hanging a desalination plant on Sunday, elevating fears that civilian infrastructure might change into honest recreation in the struggle, as Iran’s president vowed to develop the nation’s assaults on American targets throughout the area in the face of intense US and Israeli airstrikes.

A late-night Israeli strike on an oil facility engulfed elements of Iran’s capital, Tehran, in smoke on Sunday, whereas Israel renewed assaults in Lebanon. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to press forward with the nine-day-old marketing campaign, which has rippled throughout the area and seems to haven’t any finish in sight.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian threatened on Sunday to step up assaults on American targets throughout the Middle East. He appeared to backtrack from conciliatory feedback towards his Gulf neighbors on Saturday. Those feedback, in which he apologized for assaults on their soil, have been shortly contradicted by Iranian hard-liners.

In Lebanon, Israeli strikes pushed the loss of life toll to above 300 after Israel ordered tens of 1000’s to evacuate forward of an offensive aimed toward stamping out the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.

The struggle, which Israel and the United States launched with airstrikes on Feb. 28, has up to now killed at the least 1,230 folks in Iran, greater than 300 in Lebanon and about a dozen in Israel, in response to officers. Six US troops have additionally been killed.

The conflict has rattled international markets, disrupted air journey and left Iran’s management weakened by lots of of Israeli and American airstrikes.

Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s parliament, stated on Sunday that the struggle’s impact on the oil trade would proceed to spiral, warning it may quickly change into more durable to each produce and promote oil.

Some regional producers, together with in Iraq, have already curbed output amid risks in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran’s president toughens tone

“When we are attacked, we have no choice but to respond. The more pressure they impose on us, the stronger our response will naturally be,” Pezeshkian stated in video feedback Sunday. “Our Iran, our country, will not bow easily in the face of bullying, oppression or aggression — and it never has.”

The remarks, starkly completely different in tone, got here a day after Pezeshkian stated Iran regretted regional issues attributable to Iranian strikes and urged neighboring states not to participate in US and Israeli assaults in opposition to Iran.

While a number of Gulf states reported intercepting extra incoming missiles and drones from Iran, Pezeshkian stated the nation wasn’t trying to battle them and accused the US of making an attempt to pit nations in opposition to each other.

Iranian hard-liners shortly contradicted these remarks. Judiciary chief Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejei wrote on

Mohseni-Ejei and Pezeshkian are half of a three-member management council that has overseen Iran since an earlier strike killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Pezeshkian’s remarks Sunday strengthened pledges that Iran wouldn’t give up regardless of US and Israeli threats, with US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying their goal stays the substitute of Iran’s leaders.

“We’re not looking to settle,” Trump informed reporters Saturday aboard Air Force One. “They’d like to settle. We’re not looking to settle.”

Desalination and oil services attacked

The Gulf nations of Bahrain, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, reported extra Iranian missiles launched towards them on Sunday, together with a number of that hit new classes of civilian infrastructure.

The United Arab Emirates stated that Iran launched greater than 100 missiles and drones in new barracks. Only 4 drones fell at unnamed places, the nation’s protection ministry stated.

Bahrain accused Iran of indiscriminately attacking civilian targets and damaging one of its desalination crops, though its electrical energy and water authority stated provides remained on-line. The island nation, house to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, has been among the nations focused by Iranian drones and missiles. Attacks have hit accommodations, ports and residential towers and killed at the least one particular person.

The desalination plant strike got here after Iran stated a US airstrike broken an Iranian desalination plant. Abbas Araghchi, the nation’s international minister, stated the strike on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz had lower into the water provide for 30 villages. He warned that in doing so “the US set this precedent, not Iran.”

Neither US Central Command and Israel’s army had speedy touch upon the plant.

Desalination plants supply water to tens of millions of residents in the area, elevating new fears of dangers in a number of patched desert nations.

Iran additionally stated on Sunday that in a single day strikes from Israel hit 4 oil storage tankers and a petroleum switch terminal, killing 4 folks. Witnesses in Tehran stated the smoke was so thick from that fireside that engulfed the north Tehran oil depot that it felt like if the solar had not risen.

The Iranian Red Crescent Society stated on Sunday that about 10,000 civilian buildings throughout the nation had been broken, together with houses, faculties and medical services. It warned Tehran residents to take precautions in opposition to poisonous air air pollution and the chance of acid rain after Israeli strikes set fires at oil depots in the realm.

Iran maintains adequate gasoline, Veys Karami, Managing Director of the National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company, informed Iran’s state-run information company. Israel’s army stated on Saturday that the focused oil depots have been being utilized by Iran’s army.

More strikes hit Lebanon

Israel renewed its assault early Sunday on elements of Lebanon, the place well being officers reported 12 extra folks killed, pushing the loss of life toll there above 300.

The Israeli army has ordered tens of 1000’s of folks in giant swaths of the nation, together with elements of the Beirut space, to evacuate throughout an offensive that its army stated was aimed toward stamping out Iran-supported forces there. It warned residents of southern Lebanon to maneuver north on Sunday morning.

Israel’s renewed offensive started final week after Hezbollah launched rockets towards northern Israel through the opening days of the struggle. The subsequent strikes have been probably the most intense since a November 2024 ceasefire.

Israel withdrew from most of southern Lebanon at the moment however continued near-daily strikes, primarily in southern Lebanon, saying that Hezbollah had been making an attempt to rebuild its positions there. Hezbollah stated final week that after greater than a yr of abiding by a ceasefire as Israel’s strikes continued on Lebanon, its endurance has ended, leaving it with no choice however to struggle.

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Metz reported from Ramallah, West Bank, and Magdy from Cairo, Egypt. Associated Press journalists Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, and Aamer Madhani in Doral, Florida, contributed reporting.