PHOTO – An Iranian drone strikes the terminal building of the airport in Nakhchivan [Screengrab/Al Jazeera]
What to know on the sixth day of the U.S. and Israel’s war with Iran
- Israel and Iran launched new strikes as the war in the Middle East entered its sixth day, with Iran matching U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s escalatory rhetoric and threatening “more intense and widespread” attacks to cripple the region’s economy.
- The war continues to spread, with fresh Israeli strikes in Lebanon and Tehran, and Iranian drones hitting neighboring Azerbaijan for the first time. Azerbaijan joined the leaders of some of the Persian Gulf’s paralyzed petroleum-based economies to warn they could intervene if Iran continues lashing out with drones and missiles. The ripples of the conflict have already spread from the Mideast to the shores of Sri Lanka and Cyprus in the Eastern Mediterranean.
- The U.S. government, after sharp criticism over pre-war planning, has begun assisting thousands of Americans trying to evacuate from the Middle East, with the State Department saying it’s working on “a series of options” to get people home.
- DEATH TOLL IN IRAN
The Iranian Martyrs’ and Veterans’ Affairs Organization, a government agency responsible for supporting the families of people killed in service to the nation, said Thursday that as of the previous day, at least 1,230 people had been killed by U.S. and Israeli strikes on the country.
The previous death toll given by Iranian officials was just under 1,000.
The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said that according to its data, as of Wednesday, civilian deaths in Iran stood “at 1,114, including 181 children,” with another 926 reported deaths “under review pending verification and classification.”
QATAR AIWAYS RELIEF FLIGHTS
Qatar Airways says it will offer “a limited number relief flights” from two Persian Gulf airports starting Thursday, “to support passengers who are stranded due to the current situation across the region.”
The Qatari airline said its normal operations would remain suspended due to the closure of Qatar’s airspace, which, along with the rest of the Persian Gulf, has been inundated by hundreds of Iranian drones and missiles fired in retaliation for the U.S.-Israeli assault launched Saturday.
The limited evacuation flights beginning Thursday included departures from two Gulf airports, with planes leaving Muscat, Oman for London, Berlin, Copenhagen, Madrid, Rome, and Amsterdam, and more departing from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to Frankfurt in Germany.
“Please ensure your contact details are up to date so we can reach you with flight information and instructions. Details can be updated at qatarairways.com or through the Qatar Airways mobile app,” the airline said in its social media post.
It said normal operations in Doha would resume, “once the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority announces the safe reopening of Qatari airspace,” adding that “a further update” would be provided on Friday.
The Trump administration, after taking criticism for offering little help to thousands of Americans stranded in the region by the war, said Wednesday that it was working on “a series of options” to get people home.
UAE TARGETED BY MISSILES AND DRONES FROM IRAN
The United Arab Emirates Ministry of Defense said half of a dozen missiles and 126 drones were intercepted as they targeted the Gulf state on Thursday alone, after Iran vowed to step up its attacks across the region in retaliation for the U.S.-Israeli war launched on Saturday.
“UAE air defenses deal with 6 ballistic missiles and 131 drones. Today (March 5, 2026), UAE air defenses detected seven ballistic missiles, six of which were intercepted and destroyed, while one ballistic missile fell inside the country’s territory. They also detected 131 drones, 125 of which were intercepted,” the defense ministry said in a social media post.
Earlier Thursday, the government of the UAE’s capital Abu Dhabi said six people were injured by falling debris when drones were intercepted. Their injuries were not described as serious.
WAR SCALE
The private Institute for National Security Studies in Israel has offered a range of figures that highlight the scale of the ongoing U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. According to the INSS, Iran has launched more than 1,600 drones at Israel, Jordan, Persian Gulf nations, and Cyprus:
Launches from Iran at:
- Israel: Approximately 200 missiles and more than 120 UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles)
- UAE: 941 UAVs, 189 ballistic missiles, and 8 cruise missiles
- Bahrain: 92 UAVs and 74 missiles
- Qatar: 41 UAVs and 112 missiles
- Jordan: 36 UAVs and 13 missiles
- Oman: 5 UAVs, 3 missiles (Gulf of Oman)
- Kuwait: 178 ballistic missiles, 384 UAVs
- Cyprus: 2 missiles, 3 UAVs
- Iraqi Kurdistan: 70 missiles and UAVs
- Saudi Arabia: 14 UAVs, 5 cruise missiles
- Turkey: 1 missile
- Launches from Lebanon, where Hezbollah is based:
- Israel: 27 UAVs and 35 rockets
- Cyprus: 6 UAVs
- The INSS said the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran had, as of Thursday, included at least 11 waves of attacks against some 600 targets. The joint strikes saw Israel fire some 5,000 munitions while the U.S. had used more than 2,000.
- The latest casualty figures cited by the institute, which is affiliated with Tel Aviv University, said at least 1,097 people had been killed in Iran, citing data provided by the U.S.-based activist organization HRANA. INSS noted that at least 87 Iranian sailors were reportedly killed in a U.S. torpedo strike against an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean on Wednesday, off the coast of Sri Lanka.
- In the Gulf region, INSS said casualty figures include:
- Israel: 13 killed (including 3 from related medical issues, not direct fire); 1,524 wounded
- United States: 6 killed, 18 wounded
- Lebanon: 72 killed, 347 wounded
- Iraq: 11 killed, 8 wounded
- Syria: 5 killed, 7 wounded
- Kuwait: 4 killed, 35 wounded
- UAE: 3 killed, 68 wounded
- Oman: 3 killed, 4 wounded
- Bahrain: 2 killed, 8 wounded
- Qatar: approximately 20 wounded
- Jordan: 5 wounded
- CBS News has not independently verified all of the INSS data, which the organization says is based on constant monitoring of “intelligence assessments, open-source information, and media reports.”
- CYPRUS
- Residents of the British enclave of Akrotiri, on the Eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus, were reportedly ordered to shelter in place Thursday as authorities warned of an ongoing security threat.
- The U.K. has a sovereign military base in Akrotiri, which it has granted the U.S. use of for “defensive purposes” amid the ongoing war with Iran, that has already been targeted at least twice by missiles or drones since the conflict began.
- According to the Cypriot news outlet in-cyprus, an alert sounded Thursday and residents were instructed to remain in place until further official notification, and to move away from windows and take shelter behind or underneath sturdy furniture. The Cypriot government later announced that no threat was detected, in-cyprus said.
- A runway on the British Akrotiri base sustained damage on Monday from a suspected Iranian drone strike, though there were unconfirmed reports on Thursday that it could have been launched from Lebanon, where the Iranian-backed group Hezbollah is based.
- Italy, Spain, France and the Netherlands were set to deploy naval assets to Cyprus following the drone strikes, the Reuters news agency cited Italian Defense Minister Guido Crusto as saying Thursday.
- AZERBAIJIAN
- Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry said Iranian drones hit an airport terminal and a school building on Thursday, warning that it reserved “the right to take appropriate retaliatory measures” against its southern neighbor.
- It was the first impact reported by Azerbaijan amid the widening war sparked by the joint U.S.-Israeli assault on Iran on Saturday.
- “One drone crashed into the terminal building of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic Airport, and another drone crashed near a school building in the village of Shekarabad,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
- “We strongly condemn these drone attacks carried out from the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which resulted in damage to the airport building and the injury of two civilians,” the ministry said, demanding that “Iran clarify the above issue within a short period of time, provide an explanation, and take the necessary and urgent measures to prevent such incidents from recurring in the future.”
A drone explodes at the airport of Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan, in a screengrab obtained from a social media video posted on March 5, 2026.
IRAN VOWS MORE ATTACKS
Iran’s official state news agency Fars quoted a commander of the country’s Revolutionary Guard Corps as saying Thursday that the coming days would bring “more intense and widespread” attacks by the Islamic Republic.
Iranian state television aired a message earlier in the day from an ayatollah in Iran calling for the “shedding” of blood from Israelis and President Trump.
The message from Ayatollah Abdollah Javadi Amoli represented one of the few statements from Iran’s powerful Islamic clerics since the war began.
“We are now on the verge of a great test and we must be careful to fully preserve this unity, to fully preserve this alliance,” Amoli said, adding a call for “the shedding of Zionist blood, the shedding of Trump’s blood.”
ISRAEL AIRSPACE
Israel’s airspace reopened for limited incoming flights Thursday after being closed since the joint U.S.-Israeli war on Iran began.
Under the phased plan, one passenger flight per hour will be allowed in the first 24 hours, totaling about 5,000 people, with more later depending on security.
Outgoing commercial flights are still prohibited.
IRAN HITS TANKER
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard claimed an attack Thursday on an American oil tanker in the northern reaches of the Persian Gulf, but it appears to have been a Bahamas-flagged ship that reported a possible sea-drone strike.
Maritime security agencies including Vanguard said the attack claimed by Iran was likely against the Sonangol Namibe, which was tracked off the coast of Kuwait on Thursday.
The company that operates the oil tanker, Sonangol Marine Services, told CBS News in a statement on Thursday that it was “approached by an unknown small vessel while anchored near Khor Al Zubair, Iraq” early on Thursday, “and a short time later a loud bang was heard.”
“All 23 crew members are safe and accounted for and have mustered inside the ship. The crew reports that a port ballast tank is losing water which suggests some form of hull breach but the ship remains stable and safely afloat. The ship was in ballast with no cargo on board and there currently are no reports of any pollution,” the company said.
The British maritime security agency UKMTO earlier reported an explosion off the port side of the tanker, which lines up with information provided by the Namibe’s operators. Public tracking data showed the tanker near the Iraq-Kuwait border in the far northern Gulf.
ISRAEL TARGETS LEBANON AND IRAN IN AIRSTRIKES
The Israeli military said it launched targeted attacks in Lebanon at the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group, along with a “large-scale wave of strikes against infrastructure” in Iran’s capital, without elaborating.
Explosions were heard in multiple locations in Tehran a short time later.
CBS
