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United, American suspend some flights from U.S. to Middle East amid Israel-Iran conflict
United, American suspend some flights from U.S. to Middle East amid Israel-Iran conflict

CBS News

timean hour ago

  • Politics
  • CBS News

United, American suspend some flights from U.S. to Middle East amid Israel-Iran conflict

Some airlines have continued to suspend flights between the United States and the Middle East amid the conflict between Israel and Iran. United Airlines said it will pause its daily flights between New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport and Dubai "due to conflict in the region." The airline did not say when flights between the two destinations might resume. United only flies to Dubai through Newark Airport. American Airlines said it would temporarily suspend flights between Philadelphia International Airport and Doha, Qatar. The suspension will last through June 22, an American Airlines spokesperson told CBS News. The last flight from Philadelphia to Doha before the suspension took off early Thursday morning, the airline said. Delta Air Lines said last week that it had suspended flights between John F. Kennedy International Airport and Tel Aviv, Israel. The suspension is currently set to last until Aug. 31, the airline said. Ben Gurion International Airport, Israel's major airport, is currently closed. U.S. airlines do not fly to Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport, Iran's largest airport. International airlines, including Emirates, Etihad Airways and Lufthansa, have canceled some routes in the region, according to the air travel news site AviationA2Z. Other flight activity has been suspended in the days since Israel launched "Operation Rising Lion" against Iran. Israel has been bombing nuclear and military targets in Iran since late last week, claiming intelligence shows that Iran is close to developing nuclear weapons. Iran has responded with a barrage of retaliatory missile strikes. Following Israel's launch of Operation Rising Lion, airspace was closed over Israel, Jordan, Iran and Iraq, and Israel's Ministry of Transportation said airspace would remain closed until further notice. President Trump has demanded Iran's "unconditional surrender." Mr Trump is weighing whether to strike Iran and formally join Israel's air campaign, a senior intelligence source and a Defense Department official told CBS News on Wednesday. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that the president will make a decision on whether to order a strike within the next two weeks. The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem told U.S. citizens in Israel on Thursday that the State Department was making plans to "assist with private U.S. citizens' departure from Israel." Some have been evacuated aboard cruise ships. The State Department recently placed a Level 4 travel advisory on Israel, telling Americans not to travel there due to "armed conflict, terrorism and civil unrest." Iran has been under a "Do Not Travel" advisory — the highest level — "due to the risk of terrorism, civil unrest, kidnapping, arbitrary arrest of U.S. citizens and wrongful detention," the State Department said.

Iran launched DELIBERATE missile blitz on Israeli hospital but patients were moved at the last minute, president reveals
Iran launched DELIBERATE missile blitz on Israeli hospital but patients were moved at the last minute, president reveals

The Sun

time2 hours ago

  • Health
  • The Sun

Iran launched DELIBERATE missile blitz on Israeli hospital but patients were moved at the last minute, president reveals

BABIES were among hundreds of hospital patients who cheated death when an Iranian missile blitzed an Israeli hospital, the nation's president told The Sun. Isaac Herzog revealed that the chiefs decided to move critical care units into a basement bunker just hours before the terrorist regime 'deliberately targeted' the hospital. 14 14 14 14 14 And in an exclusive interview with The Sun, the embattled Israeli leader branded his fanatic enemy 'disgusting and horrendous' as the Middle East conflict raged on. Appalled Mr Herzog, 64, vented his outrage at the presidential palace in Jerusalem after visiting shocked patients and staff at Soroka Hospital in the southern city of Beersheba. A huge explosion early today sent a mushroom cloud over the complex and set the roof on fire as terrified patients cowered in makeshift basement wards. They had been moved there just hours earlier by hospital chiefs as Iran's Islamist regime fired a barrage of 30 ballistic missiles from more than 1,000 miles away. Mr Herzog told The Sun: 'I was there this morning following the destruction by an Iranian missile - straight on the hospital where people were in treatment. 'The director general of the hospital decided only last night to remove all the units above ground to underground. 'They would have been killed for sure, because you see the building was totally demolished.' Mr Herzog said Soroka tends to two million patients every year, treating Israelis, Palestinians and sick and injured people from nearby Gaza. He paid tribute to the resilience of medics yesterday while revealing his shock at the scale of the damage. Mr Herzog said: 'Glass was strewn all over the place - windows and doors - total devastation, but I went underground and the hospital functions beautifully. Trump 'has APPROVED Iran attack plans & is ready to give orders' as Israel 'strikes reactor' & Tehran hits hospital 'Professor Mahmoud Abu Shakra, a great Israeli Muslim, was leading the emergency care unit underground. 'That's Israel for you. We have immense resilience. And we will recover, we will rebuild, and we will move on. 'It shows how cruel the Iranians are - the emergency care units full of babies were there, and this missile was aimed directly at the hospital. 'It was deliberate - we know it because we have intelligence. 'We know that they are carrying out crimes against humanity and war crimes all the time. 'They decided to harass us. They want to drive us crazy, so they send those missiles, but they get us wrong because we are a very strong nation, and we know how exposed they are. 'They are making a huge mistake.' 14 14 14 14 14 Mr Herzog rejected comparisons to Israeli attacks on hospitals in Gaza and insisted medical sites in the besieged enclave were targeted because terror bases were hidden beneath them. He said: 'All the aid that went into Gaza from Western countries, from us, by the way, too - all that money went to build a terror infrastructure of the worst kind. 'That was deployed on October 7th - and it's all in tunnels out there, which are full of ammunition and our hostages.' Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz raged that evil Iranian kingpin Ayatollah Ali Khamenei must die after the missile struck the hospital. He said: "Khamenei openly declares that he wants Israel destroyed – he personally gives the order to fire on hospitals. 'He considers the destruction of the state of Israel to be a goal, 'Such a man can no longer be allowed to exist.' 14 14 14 Katz's threat was echoed by Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, who said Israel was ready to "remove" the nuclear threat from Iran. Asked during a visit to bombed Soroka Hospital if Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei was a potential target, Netanyahu said: "No one is immune.' "By the end of this operation, there will be no nuclear threat to Israel, nor will there be a ballistic missile threat.' It comes as Iran warned the US will be sparking an "all-out war" in the Middle East if they join Israel in dropping bombs on Iranian nuclear sites. The US president is yet to say if he will directly launch an attack, but is reportedly considering striking Iran's key underground nuclear site in the coming days. Trump has become heavily involved in the conflict over the last 72 hours. When asked about US bombing Iran, he said: "I may do it, I may not do it." It is believed that the US may choose to back Israeli strikes on Iran's Fordow nuclear development area. Will Trump strike Iran? By Sayan Bose, Foreign News Reporter DONALD Trump is all but poised to join Israel's campaign of bombing Iran as they both seek to obliterate Tehran's nuclear program. The White House said on Thursday that Trump will decide on whether the US will get involved in the Israel-Iran conflict in the next two weeks. It comes as Tel Aviv has been carrying out air strikes targeting various nuclear and military facilities in Tehran and other parts of Iran. The goal, as they say, is to thwart the Iranian regime's efforts to produce nuclear weapons. The Trump administration previously said it had no plans to join the conflict. However, winds in Washington began blowing the other way after Trump cut short his G7 visit in Canada and said he needed to focus on the Middle East. And has repeatedly insisted it was not to pursue peace talks with Iran "in any way, shape or form" - a stark shift in his previous policy of striking up a nuclear deal. Don also went on to share a slew of posts on Truth Social suggesting he may be considering strikes against Iran. He wrote: "Our patience is wearing thin," before calling out Tehran for an unconditional surrender. Trump also called for an emergency situation room meeting yesterday with his top Washington aides, though details of those meetings have not yet been revealed. But Trump's statements, coupled with America's military movements, suggest the US forces may soon strike Iran. As Trump rushed back to meet his National Security Council, he vowed he was chasing something "better than a ceasefire", which would force Iran into a "complete give up". He refused to specify the endgame, but ominously warned: "You're going to find out over the next few days." A spokesman for the Iranian foreign ministry said that a US intervention in the Middle East would be "a recipe for all-out war in the region. This would likely be done by a fearsome 15-ton mega bomb known as a Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bomb that can penetrate deep inside the ground before blowing up. Speaking to reporters from the Oval Office Trump did say the US is the only nation capable of blitzing the key nuke site. But he added: "That doesn't mean I'm going to do it - at all." Trump also gave a two-word warning to Iran's Supreme Leader after he revealed Tehran was trying to run back to the negotiating table since the conflict broke out. When a White House reporter asked Trump about Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's declaration that he will "never surrender", Trump simply responded: "Good luck." Trump even stepped up his rhetoric towards Khamenei as he said the US knows where he is hiding but will not kill him 'for now'. Khamenei responded to the constant threats by saying: "The battle begins." He warned that the US will face hell if it enters the war and drops a single bomb on Tehran. 'This nation will never surrender,' Khamenei said in a speech read on state television. 'America should know that any military intervention will undoubtedly result in irreparable damage.'

From Gaza to Tehran: how far will Israel go—and will Iran hold?
From Gaza to Tehran: how far will Israel go—and will Iran hold?

LBCI

time3 hours ago

  • Politics
  • LBCI

From Gaza to Tehran: how far will Israel go—and will Iran hold?

Report by Nada Andraos, English adaptation by Karine Keuchkerian Since Oct. 7, 2023, the Middle East has remained on edge, rocked by ongoing political and military upheaval. Hamas carried out Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, considered one of the most significant operations in the history of resistance against Israeli occupation. But despite the losses it suffered, Israel used the operation to launch multi-front wars under the banner of dismantling the "Axis of Resistance" from its arms to the head: Iran. The dismantling began in Gaza. Israel attacked the leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, destroyed a large portion of their military infrastructure, and consequently weakened deterrence along its southern flank. From Gaza to Lebanon, where a fierce war has been waged against Hezbollah months after it opened a "support front." Israel assassinated two Hezbollah secretaries-general, eliminated top military leaders, disabled thousands of members and cadres through the "pager operation," and has continued to operate in the Lebanese arena despite the ceasefire agreement. In Yemen, Iran's "third proxy," Israel has responded to Houthi attacks in close coordination with the United States through strikes targeting the strongholds and facilities of the Ansar Allah movement. After targeting Iran's regional proxies, Israel — backed by the United States — shifted its focus to Tehran, launching an open war at dawn on June 13 aimed, it says, at eliminating Iran's nuclear program and missile arsenal. While it is true that during the wars in Gaza and Lebanon, Israel launched two strikes against Iran — to which Tehran responded within the framework of regional deterrence — the events of last Friday marked a shift to direct conflict. Given the escalating pace, Israel appears determined to dismantle what remains of deterrence and rules of engagement, aiming to cripple Iran's internal capabilities on the one hand and its ability to wage proxy wars on the other. As Israel has explicitly stated that its ultimate objective is the elimination of Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to bring down the regime, a crucial question arises: Would assassinating the supreme leader truly lead to the collapse of the regime? Will the head of the regime pursue the confrontation to the end, as Hezbollah did in Lebanon — paying the price with the loss of its leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah? Or will Khamenei choose to "drink the poisoned chalice" to preserve the Islamic Republic of Iran, just as Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini did in 1988 when he agreed to a ceasefire with Iraq?

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