Qatar intercepts missile attack, explosions heard in Dubai

Qatar said Tuesday it had intercepted a missile attack as Iran presses its retaliatory campaign over strikes by the United States and Israel that killed its supreme leader.

An AFP journalist heard several explosions in Doha, a day after blasts resounded across the Qatari capital.

Qatar, like several Gulf nations, has been targeted by drones and missiles in the last days.

"The Ministry of Defence of State of Qatar announces that armed forces intercepted missile attack which targeted State of Qatar," the defence ministry posted on X.

In nearby Dubai, an AFP journalist heard three explosions after a mobile phone alert warned residents of the UAE's most populous city to "immediately seek a safe place" over "potential missile threats".

The government later said that debris from a missile had killed one person. 

Tanker struck near Oman

An "unknown projectile" struck a tanker off the coast of Oman, a UK maritime agency said Tuesday, noting there were no reported injuries.

"A tanker has reported being struck by an unknown projectile whilst at anchor," UK Maritime Trade Operations said in a post on X.

"Minor structural damage reported. No injuries to crew."

President Donald Trump on Monday demanded that US allies help secure the Strait of Hormuz, but European powers pushed back on a possible mission to reopen the vital waterway shut by Iran in response to US-Israeli attacks.

Trump criticised the lukewarm response to his call for world powers to send warships to escort tankers through the strait, which normally carries a fifth of global crude oil, demanding a more enthusiastic response.

Global oil prices have surged by 40 to 50 percent as Iran attacks shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and launches waves of missile and drone strikes in the Gulf in retaliation for the war launched by the United States and Israel on February 28.

Israeli strikes hit Beirut neighbourhoods, apartment block

Israeli airstrikes rained down on three neighbourhoods in Beirut early Tuesday, Lebanese state media reported, as Lebanon said more than one million people had been displaced in two weeks of fighting.

Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war on March 2 when Tehran-backed Hezbollah militants attacked Israel in response to the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes.

Israel has responded with broad air raids on its northern neighbour and troop incursions into border areas

"A series of raids and artillery shelling targeted southern towns at dawn," Lebanon's National News Agency said.

"Israeli warplanes carried out two airstrikes targeting the Kafaat and Haret Hreik areas" and another airstrike on a residential apartment building in the Doha Aramoun area, NNA added.

An Ethiopian woman was wounded in the strikes, it said, quoting the health ministry.

Israel confirmed it had carried out the attacks, saying it was targeting Hezbollah.

Israel said earlier it had launched a "wide scale wave of strikes" in the Iranian capital Tehran and was also targeting Hezbollah infrastructure in Beirut.

Israeli strikes have killed 886 people, including 67 women and 111 children, since the start of the fresh fighting with Iran-backed Hezbollah, Lebanon's health ministry said Monday, adding that 2,141 others have been wounded.

Lebanese authorities said more than one million people have registered as displaced since March 2, with more than 130,000 people staying in upwards of 600 collective shelters.

The Israeli military has issued sweeping evacuation warnings for southern Lebanon, extending more than 40 kilometres (around 25 miles) from its border.

Defence Minister Israel Katz has warned that displaced Lebanese should not return home "south of the Litani area until the safety of residents in the north (of Israel) is guaranteed".