DUBAI/JERUSALEM/BEIRUT, March 18 (Reuters) – Israel said on Wednesday it had killed Iran’s intelligence minister in the second strike on a top leadership figure in two days, and had authorised the military to target any senior Iranian official it can locate.
Israel also hit central Beirut, destroying apartment buildings in some of the most intense airstrikes on the Lebanese capital for decades, Israel’s other front in the war it launched with the United States against Iran.
A day after killing Iran’s powerful security chief Ali Larijani in the highest-level targeted killing since that of the supreme leader on the war’s first day, Israel said it had killed Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib.
“No one in Iran has immunity and everyone is in the crosshairs,” Defence Minister Israel Katz said.
“The Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and I have authorised the Israel Defense Forces to target any senior Iranian official for whom an intelligence and operational opportunity arises, without the need for additional approval.”
It appeared to be the first time Israel has publicly stated that it would let the military target enemy officials without seeking special permission from political leaders for missions. Katz did not say when the order had been given.
In Tehran, thousands of people appeared in the streets for a funeral for Larijani and other figures killed in U.S.-Israeli strikes. The crowd waved Iranian flags and carried portraits of the slain officials as a eulogist sang: “Martyrs are leading the way, they’ve become more alive, burning with love.”
Iran retaliated for the killing of Larijani by firing missiles with multiple warheads at Israel, attacks which Israeli authorities said killed two people near Tel Aviv. Tehran said it fired overnight on Tel Aviv, Haifa and Beersheba in Israel, and at U.S. bases in Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said the U.S. and Israel failed to understand that the Islamic Republic was a robust political system that did not depend on any single individual.
NO SIGN OF DE-ESCALATION
Nearly three weeks into the conflict, there is no sign of de-escalation. An unprecedented disruption to global energy supplies has raised the political stakes for U.S. President Donald Trump. Diesel prices in the United States rose above $5 a gallon for the first time since the 2022 inflation surge that eroded support for his predecessor Joe Biden.
Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has rejected proposals conveyed to Tehran by intermediary countries to de-escalate the conflict, saying that the United States and Israel must first be “brought to their knees”, according to a senior Iranian official who asked not to be identified.
In a second major front in the war, Israel has stepped up strikes on Lebanon and a ground assault in the south in pursuit of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group, which has fired across the border in solidarity with Tehran.
In central Beirut’s Bachoura district, Israel warned residents early on Wednesday to leave a building it said was used by Hezbollah, which it then completely flattened. Eyewitness video, verified by Reuters, showed it crumbling into dust as it was struck at dawn.
Abu Khalil, who lives in the area, said he had helped people flee nearby homes after the Israeli warning. “It’s just an operation to hurt, to terrify people, to terrify children,” he told Reuters, insisting there were no military targets nearby.
No similar warnings were given for strikes that hit apartment buildings in two other central districts, killing at least 10 people, according to Lebanese authorities. Smoke poured from the balcony of one building as residents swept debris from the street.
Inside Israel, an Iranian missile tore a crater into the pavement and set cars ablaze in a residential area of Holon, just south of Tel Aviv.
“There was an alarm, we went into the shelter, we heard a crazy boom,” resident Leah Palteal told Reuters.
Israel acknowledged on Wednesday that its troops in southern Lebanon had fired from a tank at a U.N. base on March 6, injuring three Ghanaian peacekeepers in what it said was a mistake.
MOUNTING CASUALTIES ACROSS REGION
U.S.-based Iran human rights group HRANA said on Monday that an estimated 3,000-plus people have been killed in Iran since the U.S.-Israeli attacks began at the end of February. Authorities in Lebanon say 900 people have been killed there and 800,000 forced to flee their homes.
Iranian attacks have killed people in Iraq and across the Gulf states. Fourteen have been killed in Israel.
Israel and the United States say their war aim is to prevent Iran from being able to project force beyond its borders and destroy its nuclear and missile programmes.
They have also urged Iranians to rise up and overthrow their clerical rulers, just weeks after authorities killed thousands of anti-government protesters. However, there has been no sign of organised dissent inside Iran since the bombing began.
The Israel Defense Forces said it struck targets in Tehran on Tuesday that included the headquarters of the Revolutionary Guards’ security unit tasked with suppressing unrest.
Iran told the U.N. nuclear watchdog that a projectile had also hit an area near the Bushehr nuclear power plant on Tuesday evening but caused no damage or injuries. IAEA chief Rafael Grossi reiterated his call for maximum restraint.
The U.S. military said on Tuesday it had targeted sites along Iran’s coastline near the Strait of Hormuz with powerful “bunker-buster” bombs, saying Iranian anti-ship missiles there posed a threat to international shipping.
The strait, where a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies normally pass within a few miles of Iran’s coast, remains largely closed as Iran threatens to attack tankers linked to the U.S. and Israel.
