US military announces 4 killed in aircraft crash; IDF strikes 200 targets in Iran over past day, including underground weapons site; French soldier killed in Iraq, 2 dead in Oman
An Iranian ballistic missile attack on the northern Israeli town of Zarzir moderately wounded a 34-year-old woman and lightly wounded dozens more in the early hours of Friday.
The incident came as Iran continued to fire barrages at both Israel and neighboring Gulf countries, while Israel carried out hundreds of strikes on regime targets across the Islamic Republic, including on an underground weapons site, as the war that began with US-Israeli strikes on February 28 neared the two-week mark.
The US military announced on Friday that four of its soldiers died when a refueling aircraft crashed over Iraq last night, bringing the US military death toll to 11. US President Donald Trump has sent mixed signals about how long the war will continue, warning on Friday that “deranged scumbags” should watch out.
The war has shaken the world’s energy market as Iran has struck countries across the region and blocked the Strait of Hormuz, a key artery for the global oil supply.
One day earlier, Iran’s new leader Mojtaba Khamenei issued his first statement, but was not seen or heard. His father, former supreme leader Ali Khamenei, was killed in strikes on the war’s first day, and the younger Khamenei was reportedly injured. On Thursday, Trump said he believes Mojtaba is “probably” alive.
Zarzir strike blows out windows, sprays glass
The IDF said it was investigating the circumstances that led to the impact in Zarzir at around 2:30 a.m. on Friday.
Home Front Command search and rescue soldiers were dispatched to the scene, where they conducted an assessment alongside rescue services and assisted with clearing the scene, the army said.
Nearly 60 people were wounded by the incident, almost all of them lightly due to broken glass or panic attacks. One 34-year-old woman was moderately wounded by shrapnel. She, along with a 17-year-old who was lightly hurt, were taken to a local hospital. Many of the wounded had been discharged by the late morning.
Images from the scene showed a large crater and extensive damage to homes and cars following the direct impact. The strike blew out windows and damaged dozens of homes.
The missile that struck Zarzir came as the Tehran-backed Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon has aimed constant missile fire at the north. Hezbollah entered the fray last week, launching missiles and drones at Israel. In response, Israel has conducted heavy strikes on the terror group and expanded its ground presence in Lebanon.
There were no other reports of injuries as a direct result of Iran’s three ballistic missile attacks overnight and early Friday, which set off sirens in northern and southern Israel.
The missile in the third attack was likely intercepted, according to initial military assessments. Sirens had sounded in the southernmost city of Eilat.
The Health Ministry reported Friday that in the preceding 24 hours, 213 injured people had been taken to hospitals as a result of the conflict with Iran. Among those treated in hospitals, four were in moderate condition, and 196 were in good condition. Thirteen people had been treated for acute anxiety.
The ministry did not give a breakdown of the causes of injuries, and some might have been sustained by people trying to reach shelter rather than as a direct result of missile fire from Iran or rocket fire from Lebanon.
On Thursday evening, a 17-year-old girl was fatally run over by a car in Rehovot, paramedics said, reportedly while dashing across a street to seek shelter ahead of an Iranian missile attack.
IDF strikes underground ballistic missile site in Shiraz
On Friday morning, the military said the Israeli Air Force had launched a fresh wave of “extensive” airstrikes in Tehran, targeting Iranian regime infrastructure sites. It also issued an “urgent warning” to Iranians in several areas in the Tehran region, ahead of planned airstrikes targeting the regime.
Previous waves of Israeli airstrikes in Tehran, Shiraz, and Ahvaz on Thursday hit several Iranian military sites, including a subterranean ballistic missile manufacturing and storage site, the Israel Defense Forces said.
The military said the underground site in Shiraz was used by Iran to manufacture and store ballistic missiles “which were set to be launched toward the State of Israel.”
In Tehran, the IDF said it struck several sites belonging to Iran’s air defense array, including a “key base,” along with facilities used by Iran to manufacture various weapons, including air defense systems and ballistic missile components.
In Ahvaz, the IDF said it struck several headquarters of various Iranian regime bodies, including the IRGC ground forces and Iran’s internal security forces. The military said dozens of Iranian soldiers were operating at the headquarters that were targeted.
The military also said Friday morning that the IAF had struck over 200 targets in western and central Iran over the preceding twenty-four hours.
Dozens of IAF aircraft dropped numerous bombs on the targets, the military added, attaching footage showing some of the strikes.
Sirens heard at NATO base in Turkey hosting US troops
Amid the fighting, countries surrounding Iran reported continuing attacks by the Islamic Republic on targets within their territory.
Sirens were heard early Friday morning at Turkey’s Incirlik airbase, a key NATO facility where US troops are stationed near the southeastern city of Adana, state news agency Anadolu reported.
There was no immediate official comment on the incident, which took place four days after NATO air defenses shot down a ballistic missile in Turkish airspace that was fired from Iran, the second in five days.
Several people posted mobile phone footage on social media of a glowing image flying through the sky, suggesting it could be a missile heading for the airbase, it said.
NATO said it shot down a second ballistic missile fired from Iran on Monday, prompting a stern warning from Turkey to Tehran not to take “provocative steps.”
Gulf states report ongoing attacks; two dead in Oman
Two people died after security forces intercepted a drone in northern Oman, state media says, without giving further details.
Both victims in the incident at the Al Awahi industrial area were expatriates, the Oman News Agency says, adding that others were injured.
A building at the Dubai International Financial Center also sustained damage on Friday after what authorities described as a “successful interception.” The Dubai Media Office did not elaborate on what had been intercepted, nor did it acknowledge the damage done to DIFC, an economic free zone for banks, capital traders and wealth managers, home to exclusive restaurants and nightclubs for the city’s elite.
The United Arab Emirates’ air defenses have intercepted more than 1,500 Iranian drones and nearly 300 missiles during the current war.
Saudi Arabia’s defense ministry said its own air defenses had downed 10 more drones headed toward the kingdom’s Eastern and Central Provinces, bringing the total to nearly 50 drones entering Saudi airspace over the span of a few hours.
The overnight barrage represented a higher-than-usual number of aerial threats for the kingdom, which has seen sites including the US Embassy in Riyadh, oil infrastructure, and a military base hosting US troops targeted as the war has intensified.
On Friday, the Saudi Defense Ministry said its forces intercepted a drone targeting Riyadh’s Diplomatic Quarter, housing foreign embassies.
French soldier killed by drone attack in Iraqi Kurdistan
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron announced early Friday that a French soldier was killed, the country’s first fatality in this war, in a drone attack in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region.
A member of the armed forces “died for France during an attack in the Erbil region of Iraq,” Macron wrote on X. He added that several other soldiers had been wounded in the incident, which the French military earlier said was a drone attack on troops carrying out a training exercise.
Around the same time, the pro-Iranian Ashab al-Kahf group in Iraq posted a statement to its Telegram channel, warning that French interests “in Iraq and the region” will be “under targeting fire” after the arrival of a French aircraft carrier.
Iran’s military, in a statement carried by state TV, also claimed that an allied group in Iraq had downed an American refueling aircraft and killed all its crew. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a loose alliance of Iran-backed factions, claimed to have struck the plane with a missile.
An American KC-135 aerial refueling aircraft did crash in western Iraq. However, US Central Command, which is responsible for American forces in the Middle East, said in a statement Thursday that the crash “was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire.”
At rally, IRGC threatens Iranians who would protest government
Israel’s strikes came just before rallies were to begin for the annual Quds Day on Friday, which Iran has been marking on the last Friday of Ramadan since its 1979 Islamic Revolution, and which sees annual anti-Israel demonstrations.
In Iran, state television aired footage on Friday showing thousands of people participating in the Quds Day rallies, chanting “Death to Israel” and “Death to America” while carrying Iranian flags.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned on Friday that any new protests against the authorities would be met with a stronger response than in anti-regime protests in January, when activist groups say security forces killed as many as tens of thousands of people.
“The evil enemy, failing to achieve its field battle goals, is once again pursuing the instillation of fear and street riots,” the Guards said in a statement broadcast on TV. The statement promised “a stronger blow than on January 8” in the event of new unrest.
The rallies came almost a week after Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei, took over the helm of the Islamic Republic. The elder Khamenei was killed on the war’s first day.
Trump: ‘Watch what happens’ to regime ‘scumbags’ today
Trump weighed in on the younger Khamenei’s status after the new supreme leader ostensibly issued his first statement since being appointed.
Asked if he thinks Mojtaba Khamenei is alive, Trump said, “I think he probably is.”
“I think he is damaged, but I think he’s probably alive in some form, you know,” Trump continued, speaking to the Brian Kilmeade Show on Fox News Radio. The interview was taped on Thursday to air Friday morning.
Early Friday, Trump issued a new threat online, writing: “Watch what happens to these deranged scumbags today.”
Trump made the post on his Truth Social website, saying that “Iran’s Navy is gone, their Air Force is no longer, missiles, drones and everything else are being decimated, and their leaders have been wiped from the face of the earth.”
“They’ve been killing innocent people all over the world for 47 years, and now I, as the 47th President of the United States of America, am killing them,” Trump wrote. “What a great honor it is to do so!”
As reported by The Times of Israel