US-Iran war live updates: Israel bombards Beirut and Tehran as US says strikes on Iran to ‘surge dramatically’

the IDF says that citizens in Israel who had been sheltering in protected spaces can now leave them, the BBC reports.

This follows its instruction to citizens in relevant areas to shelter in protected spaces after reporting it was working “to intercept” Iranian missiles.

The update, on Telegram, says that the Home Front Command is advising that it is “now permitted to leave protected spaces in all areas across the country and to remain near them.”

Separately, Magen David Adom, Israel’s emergency services says: “At this stage, no reports of casualties have been received”.

The first flight from Dubai back to Perth since Middle East airspaces closed due to Iran’s retaliatory strikes is mostly empty despite more than 100,000 Australians remaining stranded in the Middle East.

Flight EK420 is due to touch down just after 5.30pm at Perth Airport — one of four Emirates planes landing in Australia on Friday after the United Arab Emirates claimed it managed to negotiate a civilian air corridor with Iran.

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London police say four men have been arrested on suspicion of aiding Iran by spying on the Jewish community, AP reports.

The suspects are one Iranian and three dual British-Iranian nationals. They were taken into custody on suspicion of assisting a foreign intelligence service, Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

The BBC said the men, ages 22, 40, 52 and 55, were arrested at addresses in and around north London shortly after 1 a.m.

The men are suspected on spying on locations and individuals.

Sri Lanka began transferring more than 200 sailors from an Iranian vessel to shore on Friday after the ship sought assistance while anchored outside the country’s waters, AP reports.

The move by the Sri Lankan government to take over the vessel came after the U.S. sank the Iranian warship IRIS Dena off Sri Lanka’s coast Wednesday.

Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said that authorities decided to take control of the Iranian vessel IRIS Bushehr after one of its engines failed.

“We have to understand that this is not an ordinary situation. It’s a request by a ship belonging to one party to enter into our port. We have to consider that according to the international treaties and conventions,” he told journalists Thursday night.

South Korea says it reached an agreement with the United Arab Emirates to receive 6 million barrels of crude oil, aiming to stabilize energy prices spiked by the escalating war in the Middle East, AP reports.

Kang Hoon-sik, chief of staff for South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, said in a briefing Friday that the emergency supplies are intended to curb fuel costs which surged this week.

Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry says it intercepted missile and drone attacks within its territory overnight.

Across several updates on X, it says a cruise missile was “intercepted and destroyed” near the city of Al-Kharj, south east of the capital Riyadh.

In the last hour it has also reported that several drones have been taken down near the capital itself.

Etihad Airways said it is restarting a “limited flight schedule” from its hub in the United Arab Emirates capital Abu Dhabi starting on Friday.

The government-backed carrier has operated some flights in recent days, but its latest announcement suggests it is moving toward more regular operations.

Etihad said that previously booked passengers as well as new customers will be able to travel on the flights, assuming “all safety criteria are met.”

It listed more than 70 destinations it planned to fly to between Friday and March 19.

Last night at the US Central Command, US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, Central Command Admiral Brad Cooper and President Donald Trump held a briefing on US operations against Iran.

“The amount of firepower over Iran and over Tehran is about to surge dramatically,” Hegseth said.

He added that the UK decision to allow the US to use the Diego Garcia military base would help Washington intensify attacks.

“It was unfortunate that the Brits didn’t from day one say, ‘Hey, go ahead and have access,’” Hegseth said. “But we got there.”

Almost 200 children have been killed across the Middle East, UNICEF reported on Friday, calling the impact ‘devastating.’

“Over 190 children have been reported killed in the region since the weekend’s military escalations. This includes 181 children in Iran, seven in Lebanon, three in Israel, and one child in Kuwait,” UNICEF said.

During the first day of the US and Israeli strikes on Iran, a girls’ school was hit in Minab, southern Iran, killing at least 175 schoolchildren, according to the IRGC.

US President Donald Trump has told the US broadcaster NBC that it would be a “waste of time” currently to consider sending US ground troops into Iran.

“It’s a waste of time. They’ve lost everything. They’ve lost their navy. They’ve lost everything they can lose,” Mr Trump told NBC over the phone.

He also dismissed the warning by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi that a deployment of foreign troops into Iran would spell disaster for the invaders. as a “wasted comment.”