US-Israel-Iran War Highlights: US deploys thousands of Marines to Middle East

The United States Central Command (Centcom) said around 3,500 additional troops have arrived in the Middle East on board the USS Tripoli.

Sirens were sounded across Bahrain, with authorities urging people to move to the nearest safe location amid heightened regional tensions.

The Interior Ministry said in a brief statement: “The siren has been sounded. Citizens and residents are urged to remain calm and head to the nearest safe place.”

The alert follows similar developments in Kuwait, where the military said air defence systems had been activated in response to a missile and drone threat.
 

The Houthis’ military spokesperson said they had carried out a “second military operation” targeting Israel using cruise missiles and drones. The group’s military spokesperson Yahya Saree said in a statement that operations would continue in the coming days until Israel “ceases its attacks and aggression.”
 

Iran’s Foreign Ministry has accused the United States and Israel of “deliberately” targeting universities and research centres during the ongoing conflict. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said the attacks had hit multiple institutions, including the Isfahan University of Technology and the Iran University of Science and Technology in Tehran. “The American-Israeli aggression against Iran continues to reveal its true objective: to cripple our country’s scientific foundation and cultural heritage by systematically targeting universities, research centres, historical monuments, and prominent scientists,” Baghaei said in a post on X. According to the Iranian Red Crescent Society, at least 600 educational facilities across Iran have been damaged or destroyed during the war.
 

Iran has agreed to allow an additional 20 Pakistan-flagged vessels to transit the Strait of Hormuz, Pakistan’s foreign minister said, adding that two Pakistani ships are being permitted to pass through the waterway each day.

French President Emmanuel Macron said he had spoken with Nechirvan Barzani, president of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region, to express his support following an attack on Barzani’s residence earlier in the day. In a post on X, Macron stressed that the sovereignty of Iraq, including the Kurdistan Region within it, is essential to regional stability and said everything must be done to prevent Iraq from being drawn into the ongoing escalation.
 

Israel’s military said it struck around 250 targets in Iran and Lebanon over the weekend, as it continues operations on multiple fronts. An army spokesperson said about 100 targets were hit in Iran and 170 in Lebanon in recent days. In Iran, the strikes focused on ballistic missile production facilities, launch sites, and air defence systems.

At least two Iraqi police officers were killed and two others wounded after an airstrike hit a Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) headquarters in Mosul. The targeted PMF site was located next to a police facility.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi discussed the regional implications and “consequences” of the US-Israel war on Iran with Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan in a phone call. Mirzoyan expressed condolences on the “martyrdom” of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other officials and citizens, according to Iran’s Tasnim News Agency.

More than 3,500 US troops, including the USS Tripoli carrying about 2,500 Marines, have arrived in the Middle East as the Iran war intensifies, officials said. The US Central Command said the USS Tripoli, the flagship of the Tripoli Amphibious Ready Group/31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, has reached its area of responsibility.

Foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkiye will visit Islamabad on Sunday and Monday for talks on the West Asia situation.

The Israeli military has assessed that it will complete targeting nearly all of Iran’s key military industry sites in the coming days. Iran’s defence industry spans multiple military bodies and private firms involved in producing weapon systems and components, including ballistic missiles, air defence systems, naval weapons, cyber capabilities and spy satellites.

Lebanon’s Ministry of Health said at least 1,189 people have been killed and 3,427 others injured in Israeli attacks on the country since March 2.

A spokesperson for the country’s defence ministry says that the drones targeted the vicinity of Kuwait International Airport. The army says that a fire that broke out at the airport as a result of the attacks has been extinguished.

An Informal Group of Ministers (IGoM) comprising several senior ministers met to review risks to energy supplies, domestic availability of essential commodities, critical infrastructure resilience and the robustness of India’s supply chains amid the ongoing West Asia conflict. The government said there was an in-depth discussion on measures being taken, adding that it is closely monitoring the situation and is committed to safeguarding people from any impact of the conflict.

Emirates Global Aluminium said on Saturday that its Al Taweelah production base had sustained "significant damage" during Iranian missile and drone attacks on the Khalifa Economic Zone in Abu Dhabi.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he spoke with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman to discuss the ongoing conflict in West Asia. In a post on X, Modi reiterated India’s condemnation of attacks on regional energy infrastructure and stressed the need to ensure freedom of navigation and secure shipping lines. He also thanked the Crown Prince for his continued support for the welfare of the Indian community in Saudi Arabia.

Kuwait International Airport was targeted by multiple drone attacks that caused significant damage to its radar system but resulted in no casualties, state news agency KUNA said on Saturday, citing the country's Civil Aviation Authority.

Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesman for the IRGC’s Khatam al-Anbiya headquarters, said Iranian forces targeted two locations in Dubai where more than 500 US personnel were “hiding”, using missiles and drones and inflicting heavy losses. In remarks carried by the semi-official Tasnim news agency, he added that the US forces had fled and hidden outside their bases due to attacks and destruction of their facilities in the region.