Photo –A man walks near a burning vehicle that was targeted by Israeli bombardment in Lebanon’s southern coastal city of Sidon today.
Israel said it killed Esmail Khatib in a targeted strike in Tehran, a day after it killed top national security official Ali Larijani and former Basij militia chief Gen. Gholam Reza Soleiman.
What we know
Iran’s then incumbent Minister of Intelligence Esmail Khatib (C) sits with Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian (C-R) before a speech to members of parliament in the capital Tehran, on August 17, 2024, as he defends his cabinet selection.
Atta Kenare | Afp | Getty Images
- TOP IRANIAN OFFICIAL KILLED: Israel said it “eliminated” Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib last night, the day after top national security official Ali Larijani and former Basij militia chief Gen. Gholam Reza Soleiman were killed.
- DIGNIFIED TRANSFER: President Donald Trump is set to pay his respects this afternoon as the remains of six service members killed in the crash of a refueling aircraft are returned to the U.S.
- U.S. UNLEASHES BUNKER BUSTERS: U.S. forces “successfully employed multiple 5,000-pound deep penetrator munitions on hardened Iranian missile sites” along the Strait of Hormuz, CENTCOM said.
- EMBASSY SECURITY REVIEW: The State Department ordered U.S. embassies and consular posts worldwide to “immediately” undertake a security review, citing “the ongoing and developing situation in the Middle East and the potential for spill-over effects,” according to a cable seen by NBC News.
- HEART OF BEIRUT HIT: Israeli airstrikes killed at least 10 people in the heart of Beirut, the Lebanese Health Ministry said, as Israel intensified its offensive against the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group.
- DEATH TOLL: More than 3,000 people have been killed across the Middle East. In Iran, Israeli and American strikes have killed more than 2000 people, according to the Iranian Red Crescent Society. At least 900 people have been killed in Lebanon, and 13 have died in Israel. Thirteen U.S. service members have been killed, and two more died of noncombat causes.
- Disarm Hezbollah – France says it’s unreasonable to expect Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah in 3 days amid bombing. It is unreasonable to expect the Lebanese government to disarm Iran-backed Hezbollah while the country is being bombed by Israel, France’s special envoy for Lebanon said on Wednesday. “Israel occupied Lebanon for a very long time and failed to eradicate Hezbollah’s military capacity. Therefore, they cannot now ask the Lebanese government to do that job in three days under bombardment,” he told France Info radio.
- South Lebanon strikes- Lebanese citizens should not move south towards the Litani River, the Israeli military said today, adding that it was planning to operate crossings and conduct strikes against the Hezbollah militant group. The measure was aimed at preventing the “transfer of reinforcements and weapons” by Hezbollah, Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman said in a post on X. Any movement south “could endanger your lives,” he added.
NBC/YL
