Middle East crisis live: US personnel injured in attack on Iraq army base as region braces for fresh violence | Israel-Gaza war
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the crisis in the Middle East.
At least five US personnel have been injured in an attack against a military base in Iraq on Monday, US officials have told US media, as the Middle East braces for a possible new wave of attacks by Iran and its allies following last week’s killing of senior members of militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah by Israel.
Two Katyusha rockets were fired at al Asad airbase in western Iraq, two Iraqi security sources told Reuters. One Iraqi security source said the rockets fell inside the base. It was unclear whether the attack was linked to threats by Iran to retaliate over the killing of the Hamas leader.
The casualty count was based on initial reports that could still change, the US officials said.
Iranian-backed Iraqi militias have resumed launching attacks on bases housing US forces in Iraq and Syria after a lull of several months, following a strike on a base in Jordan in late January that killed three American soldiers and prompted a series of retaliatory US strikes.
US defence secretary Lloyd Austin discussed the attack with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant and the pair agreed that the attack marked “a dangerous escalation”, a Pentagon statement said.
The US last week carried out a strike in Iraq against individuals US officials said were militants getting ready to launch drones and who posed a threat to US and coalition forces.
In other developments:
Iran has called in foreign ambassadors based in Tehran to warn of the country’s moral duty to punish Israel for what it sees as its “adventurism” and law-breaking in assassinating Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader, a week ago in the Iranian capital. Iran has also secured an emergency meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Wednesday where it will try to press Arab states to back its right to take reprisal actions against Israel.
Violence, extreme hunger, humiliation and other abuse of Palestinian prisoners has been normalised across Israel’s jail system, according to Guardian interviews with released prisoners, with mistreatment now so systemic that rights group B’Tselem says it must be considered a policy of “institutionalised abuse”. Former detainees described abuse ranging from severe beatings and sexual violence to starvation rations, refusal of medical care, and deprivation of basic needs including water, daylight, electricity and sanitation, including soap and sanitary pads for women.
Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said on Monday that allowing 2 million Palestinians to starve to death was the “right and moral” thing to do until Israeli hostages are released but complained that “world won’t let us”. Smotrich, who is actively attempting to annex the occupied West Bank, was speaking at the Katif Annual Conference, which commemorates former Israeli settlements in Gaza, the Haaretz newspaper reported.
The UN has fired nine staff members from its agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, after an internal investigation found they may have been involved in the Hamas-led 7 October attack against Israel. The UN secretary general’s office announced the move in a brief statement on Monday. It did not elaborate on the Unrwa staffers’ possible role in the attack. It said the nine included seven staffers who were fired previously over the claims.
Two people are dead in south Lebanon as a result of an Israel strike on Monday, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. One of those killed was a paramedic, according to Ali Abbas, a rescue worker who spoke to AFP.
The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah hit northern Israel in a drone attack early on Monday, in response to what it called “attacks and assassinations” carried out by Israel in several villages in south Lebanon. The Israeli military says the attack wounded two soldiers and set off a fire.
Israel handed over 80 unidentified Palestinian bodies to the Gaza’s civil defence agency, according to Palestinian officials. Gaza’s civil defence director Yamen Abu Suleiman told AFP that no information was provided with the bodies, and so there is no clear idea where they came from. “We do not know if they are martyrs [killed in Gaza] or prisoners from [Israel’s] jails”, he added.
Key events
Faisal Ali
The EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, has said the Middle East is on the “brink of a war of unknown proportions” in a post on X, adding that there is consensus on the need for a ceasefire in Gaza to “prevent another catastrophe.”
Borrell said all those obstructing “de-escalation” efforts will be held to account.
Tensions keep escalating in the Middle East, bringing it on the brink of a war of unknown proportions. We all must prevent another catastrophe. The way forward is largely consensual: ceasefire in Gaza, now. All those standing in the way of de-escalation shall be held accountable.
— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) August 6, 2024
The killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was intended to prolong the conflict in Gaza and will complicate talks on resolving the crisis, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas told Russia’s RIA state news agency in remarks published on Tuesday.
“There is no doubt that the purpose of Mr. Haniyeh’s assassination is to prolong the war and expand its scope,” RIA cited Abbas as saying.
“It will have a negative impact on the ongoing negotiations to end the aggression and withdraw Israeli troops from Gaza.”
Haniyeh was assassinated in the Iranian capital Tehran last week, an attack that drew threats of revenge on Israel and fuelled concern that the conflict in Gaza was turning into a wider Middle East war, Reuters reported.
“We consider this a cowardly act and a dangerous development in Israeli politics,” Abbas said in remarks published in Russian by the RIA agency.
“The Israeli occupation authorities are required to abandon their ambitions and stop their aggressive actions against our people and our cause, to comply with international law and implement the Arab Peace Initiative, as well as an immediate and lasting ceasefire and withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.”
Palestinian officials say that four Palestinians were killed, including three teenagers, and another seven were wounded by Israeli fire during a military raid in the occupied West Bank.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said on Tuesday that the raid was carried out overnight in the village of Aqaaba in the northern West Bank.
Those killed included two 19-year-olds and a 14-year-old, AP reported.
Separately, the Islamic Jihad militant group reported heavy fighting with the army in the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank, a frequent flashpoint.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the crisis in the Middle East.
At least five US personnel have been injured in an attack against a military base in Iraq on Monday, US officials have told US media, as the Middle East braces for a possible new wave of attacks by Iran and its allies following last week’s killing of senior members of militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah by Israel.
Two Katyusha rockets were fired at al Asad airbase in western Iraq, two Iraqi security sources told Reuters. One Iraqi security source said the rockets fell inside the base. It was unclear whether the attack was linked to threats by Iran to retaliate over the killing of the Hamas leader.
The casualty count was based on initial reports that could still change, the US officials said.
Iranian-backed Iraqi militias have resumed launching attacks on bases housing US forces in Iraq and Syria after a lull of several months, following a strike on a base in Jordan in late January that killed three American soldiers and prompted a series of retaliatory US strikes.
US defence secretary Lloyd Austin discussed the attack with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant and the pair agreed that the attack marked “a dangerous escalation”, a Pentagon statement said.
The US last week carried out a strike in Iraq against individuals US officials said were militants getting ready to launch drones and who posed a threat to US and coalition forces.
In other developments:
Iran has called in foreign ambassadors based in Tehran to warn of the country’s moral duty to punish Israel for what it sees as its “adventurism” and law-breaking in assassinating Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader, a week ago in the Iranian capital. Iran has also secured an emergency meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Wednesday where it will try to press Arab states to back its right to take reprisal actions against Israel.
Violence, extreme hunger, humiliation and other abuse of Palestinian prisoners has been normalised across Israel’s jail system, according to Guardian interviews with released prisoners, with mistreatment now so systemic that rights group B’Tselem says it must be considered a policy of “institutionalised abuse”. Former detainees described abuse ranging from severe beatings and sexual violence to starvation rations, refusal of medical care, and deprivation of basic needs including water, daylight, electricity and sanitation, including soap and sanitary pads for women.
Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said on Monday that allowing 2 million Palestinians to starve to death was the “right and moral” thing to do until Israeli hostages are released but complained that “world won’t let us”. Smotrich, who is actively attempting to annex the occupied West Bank, was speaking at the Katif Annual Conference, which commemorates former Israeli settlements in Gaza, the Haaretz newspaper reported.
The UN has fired nine staff members from its agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, after an internal investigation found they may have been involved in the Hamas-led 7 October attack against Israel. The UN secretary general’s office announced the move in a brief statement on Monday. It did not elaborate on the Unrwa staffers’ possible role in the attack. It said the nine included seven staffers who were fired previously over the claims.
Two people are dead in south Lebanon as a result of an Israel strike on Monday, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. One of those killed was a paramedic, according to Ali Abbas, a rescue worker who spoke to AFP.
The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah hit northern Israel in a drone attack early on Monday, in response to what it called “attacks and assassinations” carried out by Israel in several villages in south Lebanon. The Israeli military says the attack wounded two soldiers and set off a fire.
Israel handed over 80 unidentified Palestinian bodies to the Gaza’s civil defence agency, according to Palestinian officials. Gaza’s civil defence director Yamen Abu Suleiman told AFP that no information was provided with the bodies, and so there is no clear idea where they came from. “We do not know if they are martyrs [killed in Gaza] or prisoners from [Israel’s] jails”, he added.
