March 8 (V7N) - Israel carried out a series of heavy strikes across southern Lebanon and Beirut early Sunday, killing 12 people, the Lebanese Health Ministry reported, as the Middle East conflict widened sharply. Israeli officials said the attacks targeted commanders linked to the Lebanese branch of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force, following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s warning of “many surprises” in the next phase of the war.

In the Gulf, two Kuwaiti border guards were killed when missiles and drones struck the country, marking one of the most serious spillovers of the conflict into the region.

On Saturday night, an Israeli strike on an oil storage facility in Tehran sent massive flames into the sky — the first confirmed attack on a civilian industrial site inside Iran since the war began.

The conflict erupted on February 28 after joint U.S.–Israeli strikes on Iran. Since then, at least 1,230 people have been killed in Iran, more than 300 in Lebanon, and around a dozen in Israel, according to official tallies.

Bahrain reported that an Iranian drone caused “material damage” to a major desalination plant — the first such attack on an Arab state during the nine‑day conflict. Three people were injured in Muharraq city when missile shrapnel struck a university building.

Meanwhile, Israel said it struck F‑14 fighter jets at Isfahan Airport — aircraft Iran purchased from the United States before the 1979 revolution — along with detection and air‑defense systems. Israel did not confirm whether the jets were destroyed.

END/WD/RH/