Explosions heard in Tehran, Jerusalem on fifth day of war

Explosions sounded in Tehran Wednesday as Iran's war with the US and Israel entered a fifth day following earlier strikes on an Iranian nuclear site and retaliatory strikes by the Islamic Republic across the Gulf region.

The explosions around Tehran came at dawn, according to Iran state television, while Israel’s military said its air defenses had been activated to intercept incoming Iranian missiles and explosions were heard around Jerusalem.

Five days into a war that US President Donald Trump suggested could last a month or longer, nearly 800 people have been killed in Iran, including some Trump said he had considered as possible future leaders of the country.

Explosions also hit Lebanon, where Israel said it is retaliating against Hezbollah militants. Lebanon’s state-run media reported that at least four people were killed in an Israeli strike that hit a residential complex in the city of Baalbeck.

Rocket trails are seen in the sky above the city of Hebron, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, amid a fresh barrage of Iranian missile attacks on Tuesday. AFP

Israel’s defense minister on Wednesday threatened whoever Iran picks to be the country’s next supreme leader, saying he will be "a target for elimination.”
Israel Katz made the statement on X.

"Every leader appointed by the Iranian terror regime to continue and lead the plan to destroy Israel, to threaten the United States and the free world and the countries of the region, and to suppress the Iranian people - will be a target for elimination,” he wrote.

Israel targeted a building Tuesday associated with Iran’s Assembly of Experts, which will select the new supreme leader.

Israel killed the 86-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a strike Saturday that started the war.

Qatar Airways will remain grounded until at least Friday, the airline said.

Israel’s military said it began new airstrikes in Beirut.

Air defence system operates as missiles are launched towards Israel from Iran, after Israel and the US launched strikes on Iran, in Jerusalem, on Tuesday. Reuters

People staying in a hotel in a southeastern suburb of Beirut said the strike that hit the second floor came without warning.

Maggie Shibli, wife of the owner of the Hotel Comfort in the Hazmieh neighborhood, said they were sleeping when the missile hit.

"We live in a country where a missile can fall on your head at any moment,” she said.
Abbas Najdeh, who was displaced from the southern port city of Tyre and was staying at the hotel, said "we were sleeping then suddenly I, my children and my wife were thrown away.”

He added there was no warning.

Associated Press