Photo- People rush to inspect the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the offices of Al-Qard al-Hassan, a Hezbollah-linked financial institution, in the southern coastal Lebanese city of Tyre on March 2, 2026. Israel bombarded Lebanon on March 2, expanding the conflict across the region after the massive Israel-US attack on Iran that the US president launched to topple Tehran’s ruling clerics, and killing their supreme leader o February 28.AFP Contributor#AFP, AFP Via Getty Images
Iranian strikes on the U.A.E. were reported early Tuesday, the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh was hit by drones, and Israel said it was attacking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. President Trump said the campaign could last weeks or more.
Here’s the latest.
Iran broadened its retaliatory attacks on American targets in the Gulf region on Monday and early Tuesday, even as President Trump and other top officials in his administration signaled that the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran now in their third day could intensify and continue for weeks or more.
As American and Israeli planes pounded targets in Iran on Monday, the fighting expanded into Lebanon, where the Iranian-allied militia Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel, prompting Israel to bombard the militia’s strongholds outside Beirut. Early Tuesday, the Israeli military said it was attacking again in Lebanon, targeting Hezbollah command centers and weapons storage facilities in the capital, Beirut.
The American Embassy in Saudi Arabia was hit by two drones on Tuesday, the kingdom said.
The United States Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was attacked by two drones according to initial estimates from the Saudi Ministry of Defense in a statement early on Tuesday morning in the Middle East, as Iran appeared to be expanding its assault on American allies in the region.
The ministry said there was “limited fire and minor material damage to the building.” However, the embassy warned people to avoid the location, saying there had been “an attack on the facility” and issued a security alert and a shelter in place notification for the cities of Jeddah, Riyadh and Dhahran.
In its third day, the conflict has spread across the region
Many journalists who lost their access to the Pentagon last year after they refused to sign strict rules appeared at Monday’s briefing led by Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary. One, Courtney Kube, a correspondent for NBC News who drew Hegseth’s wrath during his confirmation proceedings, interjected with this question: “President Trump put a four-week timeline on it. Are you saying that’s wrong?”
Hegseth scoffed at what he termed a “typical NBC sort of ‘gotcha’ type question,” but proceeded to answer it: “President Trump has all the latitude in the world to talk about how long it may or may not take,” he said.
The Associated Press, The Washington Post and the major broadcast networks (ABC News, CBS News and NBC News) were among the legacy outlets in attendance, even though all have lost their credentials. Absent from the briefing was The New York Times, which in December filed suit against the Pentagon over the media restrictions.
A Times spokesman said, “Reporters from The Times were not invited to the press conference in person, nor granted access when one of them asked to attend.”
The United States Embassy in Riyadh early on Tuesday morning in Saudi Arabia issued a security alert and a shelter in place notification for Jeddah, Riyadh and Dhahran. “We recommend American citizens in the Kingdom to shelter in place immediately,” it said and urged people to avoid the embassy until further notice because of “an attack on the facility.” The Saudi Defense Ministry reported a drone attack on the embassy.
The Israeli military has just issued another evacuation for residents of the Dahiyah, a Hezbollah stronghold on the outskirts of Lebanon’s capital, Beirut. It is the second such warning in about three hours, and the Israeli military is already striking there, according to an announcement it made earlier. The Hezbollah-owned Lebanese broadcaster Al Manar said it was being targeted about an hour ago.
The United Arab Emirates’ Defense Ministry said on social media that its air defenses were “dealing with a barrage of ballistic missiles coming from Iran,” in a post on social media in the early hours of Tuesday in the Middle East.
The Israeli military early on Tuesday morning said it was attacking in Lebanon, targeting Hezbollah command centers and weapons storage facilities in the capital, Beirut.
After a classified briefing about Iran with senior Trump administration officials, Speaker Mike Johnson said that Israel was “determined to act with or without the U.S.,” and that after evaluating threats, President Trump made the decision to join Israel’s campaign. Trump and his administration “determined because of the exquisite intelligence we have” that strikes were warranted.
“Consequences of inaction on our part would have been devastating,” he added.
THE NEW YORK TIMES
