Daily Tribune
MOJTABA Khamenei (inset), the son of Iran’s slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was chosen by Iran’s Assembly of Experts as the country’s new supreme leader on 8 March 2026. Israeli tanks gather at a position along the Israel-Lebanon border as the Middle East war escalates.
PHOTOGRAPH courtesy of KHAMENEI.IR and JACK GUEZ/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Here are the latest events in the Middle East war on Friday:
A French soldier was killed in an attack in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday, confirming the first French military death in the Middle East war.
Since US-Israeli strikes on Iran last month engulfed the Middle East in war, multiple attacks attributed to pro-Iranian factions have targeted the region where foreign forces are based as part of an international anti-jihadist coalition.
The Israeli military said early Friday that Iran fired a new barrage of missiles toward Israel, with emergency services reporting that two were injured in the country's north.
"A short while ago, the IDF identified missiles launched from Iran toward the territory of the State of Israel. Defensive systems are operating to intercept the threat," the military posted on Telegram.
Saudi Arabia intercepted dozens of drones entering its airspace, the defence ministry said Friday, as Iran carries out attacks on oil-rich Gulf countries in response to US-Israeli strikes.
"Twelve drones were intercepted and destroyed after entering Saudi airspace," a ministry spokesperson posted on X, after authorities reported at least 16 other drones were also shot down.
An American KC-135 aerial refueling aircraft crashed in western Iraq while a second plane involved in the incident landed safely, the US military said.
"One of the aircraft went down in western Iraq, and the second landed safely. This was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire," said US Central Command, which is responsible for American forces in the Middle East.
Iran's new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, whose father and other family members were killed in the opening strikes of the war on February 28, -- vowed Thursday to avenge the Iranian casualties in the conflict, according to a statement read by a presenter on state television.
Khamenei himself was wounded in the strikes, according to some Iranian officials and state TV. His whereabouts and details of his physical condition are unknown, prompting Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu to call on him to "show his face."
US President Donald Trump told reporters the war against Iran was moving "very rapidly."
"It's doing very well, our military is unsurpassed," he said at the White House, not directly responding to the latest comments from Iran's new supreme leader.
Israel's military said it had struck checkpoints set up in the Iranian capital Tehran by the Basij paramilitary force of Iran's Revolutionary Guards as part of efforts to undermine control by the authorities.
Later, the Israeli military said it launched a new broad wave of strikes in Tehran on Thursday evening, pressing ahead with its campaign against Iran for a 13th day.
Air strikes killed at least 11 Iran-backed fighters in Iraq on Thursday near the Iraqi-Syrian border and in the capital Baghdad, senior security and armed faction officials told AFP.
Iraqi authorities denounced the "blatant attacks" on bases that belong to the Hashed al-Shaabi, a former paramilitary group now integrated into the regular army, which also encompasses brigades from Iran-backed armed groups.
Iran is not laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz, its deputy foreign minister said, after Trump said US forces had struck 28 Iranian mine-laying vessels in the waterway.
He told AFP that Iran was allowing ships from some countries to cross the narrow shipping lane that has remained effectively closed during the war.
Israel continued striking Beirut as it threatened to expand operations and seize territory in Lebanon if the militant group Hezbollah did not stop its attacks.
AFPTV footage showed dark smoke rising into the sky above Bashoura, in the heart of Beirut.
The war "is creating the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market", as Iran's chokehold on regional supplies forces Gulf producers to slash production, the International Energy Agency said.
An IEA market report said crude oil production was currently down by at least eight million barrels per day.
The Israeli military moved further into southern Lebanon, telling residents to "move immediately north of the Zahrani River", 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the Israeli border.
It said the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah had launched "approximately 200 rockets" towards it overnight, in what it said was the biggest barrage of the war so far.
