Iran-Trump latest: Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah trade fresh strikes as UK base in Cyprus hit by suspected drone

Israel carried out airstrikes on Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut early on Monday after the Iran-backed group launched missiles and drones towards Israel, saying it was avenging the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei.

More than a dozen explosions shook Beirut in what residents described as the most intense bombardment of the southern suburbs since the 2024 war between Israel and Hezbollah.

People fled on foot and by car, clogging roads after the strikes began at around 2.400am (0040 GMT).

The violence marked a further widening of the conflict that has spread across the Middle East since the United States and Israel attacked Iran on Saturday. Hezbollah, a Shi’ite Muslim group founded by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in 1982, is one of Tehran’s principal regional allies.

The Israeli military said it had begun striking Hezbollah targets across Lebanon, including senior members of the group in the Beirut area. Lebanese security sources said several areas in the southern suburbs, known as Dahiyeh, were hit.

“Hezbollah opened a campaign against Israel overnight and is fully responsible for any escalation,” Israel’s Chief of the General Staff, Eyal Zamir, said in a statement.

The Israeli military also issued evacuation warnings to residents of dozens of villages in southern and eastern Lebanon.

Israel said several projectiles fired from Lebanon landed in open areas and one was intercepted by the Israeli air force. “No injuries or damage were reported,” it said.

Hezbollah said it had targeted an Israeli missile defence facility south of Haifa in revenge for “the pure blood” of Khamenei and in response to what it described as repeated Israeli attacks. It said it was the first such operation since the 2024 war.

“The resistance leadership has always emphasised that the continuation of Israeli attacks and the assassination of our leaders, youth and people gives us the right to defend ourselves and respond at the appropriate time and place,” the group said in a statement.

The Israeli military said it would act against Hezbollah’s “decision to join the campaign” and would not allow the group to pose a threat to Israel.

In his video message Sunday, Trump urged Iranian citizens to capitalize on the moment following the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

“I call upon all Iranian patriots who yearn for to seize this moment to be brave, be bold, be heroic and take back to your country. America is with you,” the president said.

Amazon’s cloud computing unit, AWS, said on Sunday that power to one of its data centres in the United Arab Emirates was temporarily shut down after objects struck the facility, causing sparks and a fire.

The UAE has been reeling from Iran’s retaliatory missile and drone strikes following US and Israeli attacks on Iran. The Iranian strikes have hit airports, ports and residential areas across the country and the wider Gulf region.

When asked by Reuters whether the incident at the data centre was connected to the strikes, AWS neither confirmed nor denied any link.

“At around 4.30am PST, one of our Availability Zones (mec1-az2) was impacted by objects that struck the data centre, creating sparks and fire,” AWS said in a statement.

According to the company’s website, an Availability Zone consists of one or more connected physical data centres. These zones are separate, isolated locations within each AWS Region.

AWS said the fire department cut power to the facility while crews worked to extinguish the blaze. The company added that it could take several hours to restore connectivity in the affected zone, though other Availability Zones in the UAE continue to operate normally.

California Rep. Ro Khanna has said that Donald Trump’s airstrikes in Iran are a “betrayal of a decent chunk of the MAGA base,” and that many Republicans do not want to see America dragged into another foreign war.

“Donald Trump said that the Iraq War was a disaster,” Khanna said, appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press Sunday.

“He said Libya was a disaster. He ran because a big part of the MAGA base did not want another war in the Middle East… I believe this is a betrayal of a decent chunk of the MAGA base.”

Khanna added he was confident that a vote on a War Powers Resolution, to strip the president of unauthorized military authority, would be successful.

The Democrat has pushed for the vote along with GOP Rep. Thomas Massie.

Oil prices surged to their highest levels in months on Monday after the US and Israel launched weekend strikes on Iran, intensifying conflict in the Middle East and disrupting shipments from the key oil-producing region.

Brent crude jumped about 7% as attacks between Iran and Israel escalated, damaging tankers and fuelling fears of wider supply disruptions. The spike in crude prices rattled global markets, sending airline stocks sharply lower amid concerns over rising fuel costs and prolonged travel chaos.

Shares in Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific, Australia’s Qantas Airways, Singapore Airlines and Japan Airlines fell more than 5%, while Qantas dropped as much as 10.4% at the open before trimming losses.

Other Asian carriers, including ANA Holdings, Air China, China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, AirAsia X, China Airlines and EVA Airways, also declined at least 4%.

Surge in oil prices comes as two vessels have been hit and a third was reported to have had an “unknown projectile” explode very close to it, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre (UKMTO) said.

Iran has also warned ships not to transit the Strait of Hormuz — a crucial waterway through which about 20 per cent of the world’s oil and gas supplies pass.

The Israeli military on Monday ordered residents of at least 55 Lebanese towns to move 1km away from their homes, a military spokesperson said.

Residents of Beirut woke up to the sounds of blasts at 3am on Monday as Israel carried out heavy airstrikes in response to Iran-backed Hezbollah’s drone and missile strikes.

Israeli military struck three different locations in the southern suburbs of the capital as explosions shook windows.

An Israeli military spokesperson has issued evacuation orders for 55 different villages and towns across Lebanon, asking people to move 1,000 metres away.

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US secretary of state Marco Rubio will brief leaders of the US Senate and the House of Representatives at 4pm ET today, according to his public schedule.

The briefing comes on the third day of joint US–Israeli strikes on Iran.

The Ministry of Defence has confirmed that it is responding to a suspected Iranian drone strike at a British military base in Cyprus.

“Our Armed Forces are responding to a suspected drone strike at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus at midnight local time,” a spokesperson told The Independent. “Our force protection in the region is at the highest level and the base has responded to defend our people.”

The spokesperson added that the situation was “live” and that further information would be provided “in due course.”

It is understood that there were no casualties in the strike, which took place in the early hours of Monday morning, but that “minor damage” had been caused.