The latest in the Middle East: X suspends the account of Iran’s supreme leader; Iraq complains to the UN about Israeli use of its airspace | World news

Good morning and welcome back to our live coverage. Before we continue, we’ve outlined a bigger picture of what you need to know as you start a new week.

Fears of an all-out conflict in the Middle East persist after Israel launched retaliatory strikes against Iran over the weekend.

Meanwhile, Israel continues to wage war on two fronts in Gaza and Lebanon, in an attempt to eradicate Iranian-backed Hamas and Hezbollah militants.

Here are the key events from last week…

Israel attacks Iran

Israel attacked Iranian military facilities in three waves of airstrikes before dawn on Saturday, in a long-awaited retaliation attack for Tehran’s launch of ballistic missiles into Israel earlier this month.

Iran insisted that attacks on military bases in the provinces of Ilam, Khuzestan and Tehran caused “limited damage”, while Iranian media reported that four soldiers were killed.

The strikes crucially avoided Iran’s nuclear and oil facilities, in a sign of attempts to avoid a major escalation.

Benjamin Netanyahu claimed the attack had “severely harmed” Iran and “achieved all of its objectives”, while Joe Biden said he hoped it marked “the end” of a cycle of escalation between the two countries.

Even though Iran’s Foreign Ministry said the country had the right to self-defense after Israel’s attack, Tehran’s response has been generally muted.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said the attacks “should not be downplayed or exaggerated” and that Iranian officials should determine how to transfer power from Iran to Israel. He did not directly call for retaliation.

The UN Security Council is expected to meet today to discuss the attacks.

Our military analyst Sean Bell explains what could happen next in the conflict:

Read more complete and detailed analysis on the attacks from our correspondents:

Offensives continue in the north and south

While Israel’s retaliatory strikes against Iran were a major development last week, Israel’s intense and deadly air and ground campaigns against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon have continued.

Israeli forces have been launching a renewed offensive in northern Gaza for several weeks, where they say Hamas militants have regrouped.

According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, Israeli attacks on the towns of Jabalia, Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya have so far killed around 800 people during the latest campaign.

Nearly 43,000 people have been killed in total by Israeli forces since October 7, according to the Hamas-led authority.

A spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “shocked by the horrific levels of death, injury and destruction in the north” and warned that conditions for Palestinians were “unsustainable” there.

Meanwhile, more deaths have been reported on both sides of the conflict in southern Lebanon, where Israel expanded its offensive against Hezbollah a month ago.

Lebanese authorities say more than 2,570 people have been killed in a year of conflict, with the number rising significantly in the last month.

Israel was accused of killing three journalists in a rare airstrike in southeastern Lebanon on Friday. The IDF has also reported the deaths of several soldiers during fighting in the south.

Israel says it continues to attack Hezbollah and Hamas fighters, infrastructure and weapons facilities and is doing everything it can to prevent civilian casualties, including issuing warnings.