Middle East Latest: X Suspends Account of Iran’s Supreme Leader; Iraq complains to the UN about Israel’s use of its airspace World news

Good morning and welcome to our live broadcast. Before we continue, we’ve put together a bigger picture of what you need to know as you start the new week.

Fears of an all-out conflict in the Middle East remain after Israel launched a retaliatory attack on Iran last weekend.

Meanwhile, Israel continues to wage a two-front war in Gaza and Lebanon, trying to root out the Iranian-backed militants Hamas and Hezbollah.

Here are the key events of the past week…

Israel strikes Iran

Israel struck Iranian military targets in three waves of pre-dawn airstrikes on Saturday, a long-awaited retaliation for Tehran’s launch of ballistic missiles at Israel earlier this month.

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

The strikes were mainly aimed at Iran’s nuclear and oil facilities in an attempt to avoid a major escalation.

Benjamin Netanyahu said the raid had caused “serious damage” to Iran and had “achieved all its objectives”, while Joe Biden expressed hope that it would mark the “end” of a cycle of escalation between the two countries.

Although Iran’s foreign ministry said the country had the right to defend itself after the Israeli attack, Tehran’s response was generally subdued.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said the strikes “can neither be underestimated nor exaggerated” and that Iranian officials must determine how to transfer Iran’s power to Israel. He did not directly call for revenge.

The UN Security Council is expected to hold a meeting on the attacks today.

our military analyst Sean Bell explains what might happen next in the conflict:

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

Offensives continue in the north and south

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

Israeli forces have been on the offensive for several weeks in northern Gaza, where Hamas militants say they have regrouped.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, during the latest campaign, Israeli strikes on the towns of Jabalia, Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya killed about 800 people.

Since October 7, Israeli forces have killed a total of nearly 43,000 people, according to Hamas leadership.

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

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

Lebanese authorities say more than 2,570 people have been killed in the year-long conflict, with the number rising significantly in the past month.

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

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