Last Updated: August 04, 2024, 07:00 IST
Israel-Iran Conflict LIVE Updates: Tensions soared in the Middle East as Iran and its allies readied their response to the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, spurring fears of a regional war. The US said it would move warships and fighter jets to the region, while the West called on their citizens to leave Lebanon — where the powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah movement is based — and airlines cancelled flights. The killing of Haniyeh this week in Tehran, hours after the Israeli assassination of Hezbollah’s military chief in Beirut, has triggered vows of vengeance from Iran and its allies. Iran-backed groups from Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and Syria have already been drawn into the nearly 10-month war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Israel on Saturday again traded fire with Hezbollah, carried out a deadly raid in the occupied West Bank, and struck a school compound in Gaza City in an attack that the Hamas-ruled territory’s civil defence agency said killed at least 17 people. Hezbollah said it had launched dozens of Katyusha rockets on Beit Hillel in northern Israel in response to attacks on Kfar Kela and Deir Siriane in Lebanon.