The war in the Middle East has entered a new phase of tension with several fronts open. While bombings continue in the region, the death toll in Lebanon from Israeli attacks is rising, Iran claims to have shot down dozens of enemy drones, and U.S. President Donald Trump suggested that Russia might be "helping a little" Tehran in the conflict.
The confrontation intensified in late February when the U.S. and Israel launched a military offensive against Iran, opening multiple fronts of combat in the region, including the conflict between Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah.
Lebanon's Ministry of Health reported that at least 773 people have been killed and 1,933 injured since the start of the war between Israel and Hezbollah.
Amid the offensive, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned that Lebanon will pay "an ever-increasing price" if Hezbollah's attacks on Israeli territory from the south of the country continue. Israel's northern border has become one of the main theaters of the regional conflict, with a constant exchange of rockets, drones, and bombings between the Israeli army and the Lebanese Shia organization.
In parallel, Trump stated that he believes Vladimir Putin might be providing some support to Iran during the war. "I think he might be helping it a little, yes, I suppose," the U.S. president said in an interview with Fox News Radio, where he also linked the situation to the military aid Washington provides to Ukraine in its war against Russia.
According to U.S. media reports like The Washington Post and CNN, Moscow is said to have shared location data of U.S. military assets in the region to help Tehran plan missile and drone attacks.
On another front of the conflict, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed to have shot down 111 enemy drones since the start of the escalation. The figure increased after the interception of an MQ-9 Reaper drone in the Iranian city of Firuzabad and the downing of another unmanned aircraft in the city of Tabriz, in the northwest of the country.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth stated on Friday that Iran's leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is "injured, probably disfigured and in hiding." Hegseth made these statements at the Pentagon, "without providing evidence" about Khamenei's condition, according to The Associated Press.
Israel suspects that Khamenei was injured at the beginning of the war as he has not appeared in public since assuming leadership.
