US and Israel bomb Iran as Middle East war widens, oil prices surge and Strait of Hormuz disrupted

Deadly fighting spread across the Middle East on Monday as the United States and Israel continued bombing Iran, and retaliatory strikes across the region damaged military bases and civilian sites, severely disrupting air travel, energy and shipping.

The United States and Israel have conducted thousands of airstrikes across Iran since Saturday. These have killed some of the country’s top officials, including its supreme leader, and hundreds of other people, including many civilians.

Iran has responded by firing drones and missiles at Israel, US bases in the region and US allies in the Persian Gulf and beyond. Israel and Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militia in Lebanon, also traded strikes Monday, opening another front in the widening conflict.

Oil and natural gas prices surged as Iran targeted energy facilities in the Gulf and the passage of tankers through the Strait of Hormuz slowed to a trickle. About one-fifth of the world’s oil and a significant percentage of natural gas normally pass through the choke point.

Iran

The US and Israeli strikes have killed several military leaders and senior officials in Iran, including Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country’s supreme leader for over three decades.

Many of the strikes have damaged military infrastructure and government buildings. Israel said it had hit Iranian missile launchers, air defence systems and command centres. The US military said it had targeted Iran’s ballistic missile program and the headquarters of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, a powerful military force, and left at least one Iranian warship sinking.

The assault has also left many civilians dead. The Iranian Red Crescent said on social media Monday that the American and Israeli attacks had killed 555 people across Iran.

At least 175 people, most of them likely children, were killed in a strike on a girls’ elementary school in southern Iran on Saturday, health officials and Iranian state media said. It was not immediately clear why the school had been hit or by whom. The school is near a naval base belonging to the Revolutionary Guard.

US Facilities and Bases

An Iranian strike at a base in Kuwait killed three American soldiers, who have not been identified. Five other service members were seriously wounded in the attack.

A fourth American soldier later died after being wounded during “Iran’s initial attacks,” the US military said Monday. It was not immediately clear if that soldier was one of those wounded at the base in Kuwait.

The US Embassy in Kuwait was struck by a drone attack, according to two US officials, who spoke anonymously because they were not authorised to discuss the matter publicly. In a video from the scene verified by The New York Times, smoke could be seen billowing from an area surrounding the embassy.

Three American jets were also shot down, targeted “mistakenly” by Kuwaiti air defences during “an apparent friendly fire incident,” the US military said Monday, adding that all six crew members had ejected safely and were recovered.

Saudi Arabia

On Monday, Saudi Arabia’s energy ministry said that a fire had broken out at the Ras Tanura oil refinery in the kingdom’s eastern province after two Iranian drones were intercepted, causing fragments to fall. Some units of the refinery were shut down as a precautionary measure, it said.

Five drones near the Prince Sultan Air Base, a military complex south of the capital of Riyadh, were also intercepted, the defence ministry said.

Israel

At least 10 people have been killed in Israel. Nine of them were killed Sunday by an Iranian missile strike in Beit Shemesh, about 18 miles west of Jerusalem — Israel’s worst casualty event since the start of the conflict. A woman also died after a missile strike in Tel Aviv on Saturday.

Missile barrages and air-raid sirens have sent Israelis running repeatedly to bomb shelters.

Lebanon

On Monday, Israel struck around Beirut, the capital, and in the country’s south, in response to Hezbollah rocket fire that shattered a fragile truce that had held for about a year.

Hezbollah said it had attacked Israel to avenge Khamenei.

The Israeli strikes killed at least 31 people, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. Many residents of southern Lebanon fled their homes.

Gulf States

Countries in the Persian Gulf that are allied with the United States or that host US military bases have been targeted by hundreds of Iranian drone and missile strikes. Iran has hit six facilities across Bahrain, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, including a key naval headquarters, air bases hosting US forces and a naval recreational area. Iranian drones have also hit hotels and airports.

Hundreds of Iranian missiles and drones have been fired at countries in the region, including the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait.

Most of the Iranian attacks were intercepted, the Gulf countries said, but at least six people were killed, and more than 100 were wounded in the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain.

Gulf governments — penned in between the United States, their primary security guarantor, and Iran, their decapitated and desperate neighbour — are facing a war that they had openly lobbied against.

The Emirates: In Dubai, the Middle East’s business capital, five-star hotels caught fire, explosions shattered the windows of apartment towers, and the bustling international airport was damaged, injuring four people and shaking the city’s image as a safe haven.

Three people, one each from Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh, were killed across the Emirates, an indication that foreign workers, who make up a large proportion of the population, could be among the worst affected.

Bahrain: One person was killed, and two were seriously injured after debris falling from an intercepted missile started a fire on a ship, the interior ministry said. A luxury hotel and several residential buildings were hit in Manama, the capital. An Iranian drone hit a building, starting a fire, a New York Times analysis showed.

Kuwait: At least one person was killed, and more than 30 were injured, Kuwaiti authorities said.

Oman: An oil tanker in Omani waters was attacked, Oman said Monday. One crew member, an Indian, was killed.

Qatar: At least 16 people were injured in the country, its interior ministry said. Qatar hosts a major U.S. air base. QatarEnergy said Monday that it would stop producing liquefied natural gas after military attacks on two of its sites. The move sent natural gas prices sharply higher.

Qatar’s Ministry of Defence also said its air force had shot down two Su-24 bombers coming from Iran.

Iraq

Videos and photos verified by the Times appeared to show that Iran had struck the military base at Irbil International Airport, which hosts US forces. Smoke and flames could be seen rising from the direction of the base.

Syria

Four people were killed in Syria after an Iranian missile struck a building in the southern city of Sweida, according to a Syrian state news agency. The missile was most likely intended for Israel. Sweida is near Israeli-controlled territory.

Pakistan

At least 22 people were killed Sunday as thousands gathered across the country to denounce the US-Israeli airstrikes against Iran. At least 10 of those people were killed as crowds tried to storm the US Consulate in Karachi.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.