US and Israeli strikes against Iran - 28 February 2026, Media, Maps & Timelines *NO DISCUSSION*

[Rikissa]

From 28 March 2026:

The Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has raised fresh concerns over escalating violence against health workers in southern Lebanon, following the killing of nine paramedics in multiple attacks on healthcare services.

WHO Raises Alarm As Nine Paramedics Are Killed In Fresh Attacks On Health Workers In Lebanon | Sahara Reporters

WHO Raises Alarm As Nine Paramedics Are Killed In Fresh Attacks On Health Workers In Lebanon

saharareporters.com

 

[Dotta]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2038312414932783602

 

[imstilla.grandma]

The Iranian military on Sunday again issued a warning to US President Donald Trump against any “ground operations and occupation of some islands” in the Persian Gulf, saying American forces would “become good food for the sharks of the Persian Gulf” if they made any such attempt. Ebrahim Zolfaqari, Brigadier General and spokesperson for Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, issued the warning in a video statement, intensifying the exchange of verbal attacks. In the latest video released by Khatam al-Anbia Central Headquarters, Zolfaghari said that US troops would become “good food for the sharks of the Persian Gulf” if they attempted a ground invasion of Iran.

‘US troops will be good food for Persian Gulf sharks’: Iran again warns against ground assault

Ebrahim Zolfaqari, brigadier general and spokesperson for Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said the Army has been waiting to prove that aggression and occupation will result in nothing but humiliating captivity, dismemberment, and disappearance of aggressors.

www.wionews.com

 

[SouthAussie]

Catholic leaders say they have been barred from Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre by Israeli police, citing security concerns, preventing them from observing the start of the the most sacred period on the Christian calendar.

“For the first time in centuries, the Heads of the Church were prevented from celebrating the Palm Sunday Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,” the Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem said in a statement on Sunday.

“This incident is a grave precedent and disregards the sensibilities of billions of people around the world who, during this week, look to Jerusalem.”

Israeli officials have also restricted access to religious sites in East Jerusalem including Al Aqsa Mosque and the Western Wall due to the war with Iran.

US Ambassador Mike Huckabee said the move was an “unfortunate overreach”. The Italian government has also blasted the decision and plans to summon the Israeli ambassador in Rome.

https://www.news.com.au/world/middle-east/usiran-war-live-tehran-says-it-is-waiting-for-ground-invasion-as-american-troops-close-in/live-coverage/fd15b2e1a2aa35443105e070a498bae9#/entry/31944072

 

[JennieM]

'Hands full of blood': Pope Leo seemingly criticises those involved in war​

IMAGE SOURCE, VATICAN MEDIA VIA VATICAN POOL/GETTY IMAGES

As conflict in the Middle East continues, Pope Leo XIV has been addressing people at the Vatican who are celebrating Palm Sunday today.

The Pope says that God rejects the prayers of leaders who start wars and have "hands full of blood", in what has been interpreted as a criticism of those involved in the US-Israeli war with Iran.

"This is our God: Jesus, king of peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war,” says the Pope.

“He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them.”

Quoting a passage from the Bible, he says: “‘Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood.’”

Israeli military says it is striking targets across Tehran

Officials say power has now been restored to parts of Tehran, after Israel says an Iranian attack caused a fire at an industrial complex in the south of the country.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[JennieM]

48m ago
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has confirmed that Iran’s heavy-water production plant at Khondab, which Israel attacked on 27 March, has “sustained severe damage and is no longer operational”.

In a post on X, the IAEA added that the plant “contains no declared nuclear material”. The Israeli military had described the site as a “key plutonium production site for nuclear weapons” when it attacked the facility on Friday.

That same day, the IDF also launched strikes on a uranium processing site in the central Iranian city of Yazd, describing the site as a “unique facility in Iran used for the production of raw materials required for the uranium enrichment process”.

Here’s the IAEA’s post regarding the plant in Khondab:

Based on independent analysis of satellite imagery and knowledge of the installation, the IAEA has confirmed the heavy water production plant at Khondab, which Iran reported had been attacked on 27 March, has sustained severe damage and is no longer operational. The installation contains no declared nuclear material.

Middle East crisis live: Netanyahu orders expansion of invasion of southern Lebanon; Iranian forces wait for US ground troops

Netanyahu says decision is aimed strengthening Israel’s security along ⁠the northern ⁠frontier; Iran’s parliament speaker says forces ‘are waiting for the arrival of American troops on the ground to set them on fire’

www.theguardian.com

 

[JennieM]

3h ago
A medical warehouse in southern Lebanon was destroyed amid Israel’s ongoing offensive, the World Health Organisation’s director-general has said.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus released a statement on social media saying that Israel’s expanding military operations in southern Lebanon also resulted in the death of “yet another health worker today”.

“A paramedic was killed in a strike on an ambulance in Bint Jbeil,” he added. “Additionally, a medical warehouse in the same city was destroyed in an attack.”

Prior to today’s strikes, Ghebreyesus said the WHO has verified that 51 Lebanese health workers have been killed since 2 March, including nine paramedics yesterday alone.

He continued:

This cannot become the norm. Health workers are safeguarded under international humanitarian law and should not be targeted. Peace is the best medicine.

Middle East crisis live: Netanyahu orders expansion of invasion of southern Lebanon; Iranian forces wait for US ground troops

Netanyahu says decision is aimed strengthening Israel’s security along ⁠the northern ⁠frontier; Iran’s parliament speaker says forces ‘are waiting for the arrival of American troops on the ground to set them on fire’

www.theguardian.com

 

[JennieM]

8:06 PM BST

Lebanese displaced by war slam Israeli prime minister’s announcement of widening invasion​

BY ALI SHARAFEDDINE

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had said the Israeli military is expanding its security zone in the tiny Mediterranean country. Ground forces are clashing with the Hezbollah militant group in their ongoing invasion, intent to create what officials have called a “security zone”.

Mohammad Doghman who fled the southern city of Nabatieh slammed Netanyahu, calling Israel “an expansionist state.”

Over one million Lebanese have been displaced in the latest war between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group, sheltering in public schools or in tents pitched on the side of the road. Israel says its aim is to protect the country from Hezbollah rocket attacks.

Displaced Lebanese fear that this invasion would be a pretext to a new occupation, but some are still hopeful they will return home.

“They take it, and we take it back again, like every time,” said Mohammad Wansa, a displaced Lebanese from the village of Dibbeen living in a tent in central Beirut. “We will return to our homes; we will return to them.”

Live updates: Iran warns the US against a ground invasion as regional powers meet in Pakistan

Regional powers plan to meet Sunday in Pakistan to discuss how to end the fighting in the Middle East as about 2,500 U.S. Marines arrived in the region and Iranian-backed Houthi rebels entered the monthlong war.

apnews.com

 

[JennieM]

5:11 PM BST

Death toll in Lebanon exceeds 1,200 people in ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah​

BY KAREEM CHEHAYEB

Over 3,500 people were also wounded since the start of this latest military escalation, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. Among the killed are 52 health workers.

Israel launched intense airstrikes over Lebanon after the Hezbollah militant group fired rockets towards northern Israel in solidarity with Iran on March 2.

Since then, over one million Lebanese have been displaced as Israeli ground forces continue an invasion into southern Lebanon.

Live updates: Iran warns the US against a ground invasion as regional powers meet in Pakistan

Regional powers plan to meet Sunday in Pakistan to discuss how to end the fighting in the Middle East as about 2,500 U.S. Marines arrived in the region and Iranian-backed Houthi rebels entered the monthlong war.

apnews.com

 

[Dotta]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2038309576911487000

 

[JennieM]

Israeli strike on ambulance kills paramedic in Lebanon - WHO​

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) says a paramedic was killed in a strike on an ambulance in southern Lebanon on Sunday, blaming "Israel's expanding military operations" in the region.

A medical warehouse in the same city was also destroyed in an attack, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says in an update on X.

The WHO says it has verified the deaths of 51 Lebanese health workers since 2 March - including nine paramedics yesterday.

"Attacks on health facilities must cease immediately," Ghebreyesus writes on X.

"This cannot become the norm. Health workers are safeguarded under international humanitarian law and should not be targeted."

Israeli military says it is striking targets across Tehran

Officials say power has now been restored to parts of Tehran, after Israel says an Iranian attack caused a fire at an industrial complex in the south of the country.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[imstilla.grandma]

The 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit arrived in the Middle East. Iran said it would destroy U.S. forces if the military launches a ground invasion. Iran has launched a campaign, called “Janfada” or “Sacrificing Life,” to recruit volunteers to fight American forces.

Regional diplomats met in Pakistan on Sunday to plot a course for peace. The host country, once isolated by Washington for harboring Osama bin Laden, is now part of an effort to get the U.S. and Iran to the negotiating table.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday ordered the country’s military to expand a so-called security zone inside southern Lebanon.

https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/iran-war-middle-east-news-updates?gaa_at=eafs&gaa_n=AWEtsqcy3TG8mez1qajds9S8AqDSjLHnMuDRLuf41wQEfB-Y2PLKSLNG7wTnPOVKclc%3D&gaa_ts=69c99c36&gaa_sig=SeyQ3h1KiR6GVZLD0_NjTlEkhUn-dCNpCOzy18bwLGMMjpASXlybGNioIJaLAcEKF9g89DxVmFh0cKOz0-5KRQ%3D%3D

 

[JennieM]

Israeli police block Latin Patriarch from Palm Sunday mass in Jerusalem​

IMAGE SOURCE, GETTY IMAGES
Image caption, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa said the decision was "an extreme departure from basic principles of reasonableness, freedom of worship"

Israeli police have blocked the head of the Catholic church in Jerusalem from entering Christianity's holiest site to celebrate Palm Sunday.

The Latin Patriarch, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, and the Reverend Francesco Ielpo were stopped outside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre - believed to be the site of Jesus Christ's crucifixion, and where they planned to hold a mass to mark the start of Holy Week, church authorities said.

[…] the move has drawn strong criticism from global leaders as well as the church.

Israeli police block Latin Patriarch from Palm Sunday mass in Jerusalem

The move drew criticism from the church, global leaders and the US ambassador. Israel's PM said it was a safety measure following recent Iranian strikes.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[otto]

"More than 100,000 civilian targets have already been damaged or destroyed in the American and Israeli attacks on Iran, the Iranian Red Crescent reports. In Tehran alone, nearly 40,000 homes and businesses are said to have been hit.

Earlier this week, the Iranian Ministry of Health released a new tally of civilian casualties. Since the start of the war, 1,900 people are said to have been killed, including more than 400 women and children.
...

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard reports that the private residences of American and Israeli officials in the Middle East are henceforth considered legitimate targets. The threat is directed at American and Israeli military and political leaders living in the Middle East.

According to spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaghari, Iran made this decision because, in his view, the United States and Israel have attacked the homes of Iranian citizens in various cities."

LIVE "Binnenkort gesprekken tussen VS en Iran in Islamabad", zegt Pakistaanse minister | VRT NWS Nieuws

LIVE De VS en Israël voeren sinds 28 februari aanvallen uit op Iran, dat antwoordt met luchtaanvallen in de hele Golfregio. Volg alle updates in onze liveblog.

www.vrt.be

 

[otto]

"After a month of war, it remains very unclear what the Americans want to achieve. "We haven't seen a strategy in the past four weeks, and it still doesn't seem to be there today," says VRT NWS journalist Inge Vrancken from Beirut, Lebanon. "It seems that Donald Trump is making his decisions based on his instinct."

It is clear that the US has underestimated Iran. That country does not have the same military capabilities as the US, but with their strategy, they have succeeded in causing widespread chaos."

LIVE "Binnenkort gesprekken tussen VS en Iran in Islamabad", zegt Pakistaanse minister | VRT NWS Nieuws

LIVE De VS en Israël voeren sinds 28 februari aanvallen uit op Iran, dat antwoordt met luchtaanvallen in de hele Golfregio. Volg alle updates in onze liveblog.

www.vrt.be

 

[Dotta]

"Iran's Underground Bunkers: ​

Experts Have No Illusions About the Regime.​

The US can destroy Iranian launchers and storage facilities on the surface,
but much of the resources remain hidden,
with military experts stressing
that Tehran's underground bunkers maintain the regime's ability to operate.

Deeply hidden underground bunkers where Iranian authorities store strategic weapons.

Analyses cited by German 'Bild'
indicate that Iran has created a network of nearly invulnerable underground 'mountain fortresses' containing missiles.

These facilities are designed to withstand even heavy bombardment.

The newspaper points to Imam Hussein's base near the city of Yazd,
which was carved deep into the granite rock of Mount Shirkuh
—referred to as one of the hardest rocks on Earth."

Podziemne bunkry Iranu. Eksperci nie mają złudzeń ws. reżimu

USA mogą niszczyć irańskie wyrzutnie i magazyny na powierzchni, ale znaczna część zasobów pozostaje ukryta - eksperci wojskowi podkreślają, że podziemne bunkry Teheranu utrzymują zdolność reżimu do działania.

wiadomosci.wp.pl

 

[JennieM]

Iran threatens to target homes of US and Israeli officials in the region​

Ghoncheh Habibiazad
Senior reporter, BBC Persian

Ebrahim Zolfaghari, the spokesperson for Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters - the country's highest operational command unit coordinating the armed forces - has threatened that the armed forces will target the houses of US and Israeli “commanders and political officials in the region".

He says it is a “retaliatory measure” after accusing the US and Israel of “targeting residential homes of Iranian civilians in various cities”.

Several Iranian military commanders and officials have been killed during the war, including Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who was killed on the first day of the war on 28 February.

Israeli military says it is striking targets across Tehran

Officials say power has now been restored to parts of Tehran, after Israel says an Iranian attack caused a fire at an industrial complex in the south of the country.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Dotta]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2038372369777955167

 

[imstilla.grandma]

As the price of a barrel of oil settles in at north of $100, up from $70 before the war, gas prices in the US are flirting with $4 a gallon, the highest since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. And on the other side of the world, consumers in places like the Philippines and India are waiting hours in line for fuel as governments ration dwindling supplies.

"No country will be immune to the effects of this crisis if it continues to go in this direction," Fatih Birol, the head of the International Energy Agency, told journalists in Australia earlier this week.

This energy supply shock threatens to drive up inflation, which could mean higher interest rates, which can lead to a recession. It's a delicate balance that is difficult to calibrate in the uncertainty of war. Some economists are warning of a dreaded 1970s -style stagflation, a perfect storm of high prices, a stalled economy, and rising unemployment.

The war is also hammering supply chains for things like helium, a critical component in the semiconductor chips powering the AI revolution, and fertilizer, which could, in time, lead to higher grocery prices
Qhttps://www.businessinsider.com/iran-war-world-economy-trump-markets-oil-travel-food-ai-2026-3

 

[JennieM]

Iran accuses US of plotting ground assault while publicly seeking talks​

[…]

In a message published to mark 30 days since the start of the war, the Iranian parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said: “The enemy signals negotiation in public, while in secret it plots a ground attack.”

[…]

The White House has sent mixed signals, alternating between talk of de-escalation and threats of a wider war. Karoline Leavitt, the press secretary, said Pentagon planning was intended to give Donald Trump “maximum optionality”, not to signal a final decision.

The Post said whether Trump would approve plans for deploying ground troops remained uncertain.

In an apparent rebuke of the Trump administration on Sunday, Pope Leo saidGod ignored the prayers of leaders who waged war and had “hands full of blood”. The pontiff made the comments days after the US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, prayed for violence against enemies who deserved “no mercy”.

[…]

Iran accuses US of plotting ground assault while publicly seeking talks

Tehran says it will confront any land attack, as Houthi missiles fired at Israel signal further escalation in region

www.theguardian.com