Iran yesterday held a state funeral for some 60 scientists and commanders killed in its war with Israel, after its top diplomat condemned the latest White House tirade against supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Lebanon’s health ministry said an Israeli strike killed three people yesterday in the country’s south, the latest such raid despite a November ceasefire with the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group.

Syria's health ministry said the toll from Sunday's attack on the Mar Elias Church in the Dweila neighborhood had risen to 25

At least 20 people were killed and dozens injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the Mar Elias Church in the Dweila neighbourhood of Syria's capital Damascus yesterday, health authorities and security sources said.

A week ago, Israel launched an unprecedented attack against Iran, saying the country was on the verge of developing a nuclear weapon, a claim Tehran has always denied.

Israel’s command of Iranian air space leaves few obstacles in the way of its expanding bombardment, though it will struggle to deal a knock-out blow to deeply buried nuclear sites without the US joining the attack, experts say.

Iran and Israel traded missiles and airstrikes yesterday, the day after Israel launched a sweeping air offensive against its old enemy, killing commanders and scientists and bombing nuclear sites in a stated bid to stop it from building an atomic weapon.

21 people were injured by the missiles, including two in serious condition

Israel’s strikes on archfoe Iran exposed severe weaknesses for Tehran that have hampered its ability to respond militarily, analysts said.

Iran yesterday called Israel’s wave of strikes a declaration of war, while US President Donald Trump warned Tehran of “even more brutal” attacks if it does not make a deal on its nuclear programme.

The UN nuclear watchdog’s board of governors declared Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations yesterday and Tehran announced counter-measures, as tensions rose in the Middle East before further US-Iranian nuclear talks.

If nuclear negotiations fail and conflict arises with the United States, Iran will strike American bases in the region, Defence Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh said yesterday, days ahead of a planned sixth round of Iran-US nuclear talks.

A fire broke out at a petrochemical complex in southern Iran yesterday, killing at least three people, state television reported.

Iran yesterday executed a man after convicting him of killing seven people, including a 10-year-old boy, during nationwide protests in 2022, the judiciary said.

Kuwait is to require foreigners working in the private sector to obtain their employer’s permission before leaving the country, authorities said yesterday, adding further restrictions on workers bound by the kafala sponsorship system.

Israel’s navy said it struck Houthi targets in Yemen’s Red Sea port of Hodeidah yesterday, and Defence Minister Israel Katz threatened the Iran-aligned movement with a naval and air blockade if attacks on Israel continue.

The United States and Israel are seeking to turn nuclear talks into a “strategic trap” for Iran, Iranian lawmakers said in a statement yesterday, days before a planned sixth round of Iran-US nuclear talks.

Aid distribution in Gaza was halted on Friday after the US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) said overcrowding had made it unsafe to continue operations, in the latest disruption to its troubled relief effort.

Thousands of pilgrims began to gather before dawn around the hill and the surrounding plain

More than a million pilgrims participated in Islam’s most important rite under a scorching sun yesterday as the hajj pilgrimage began.