Strikes across Middle East continue as UK charters evacuation flight for British nationals in Oman
US focuses on ‘shooting all the things that can shoot at us’published at 05:45 GMT
Yolande Knell
Middle East correspondent, in Jerusalem
Image source, Reuters
The US military says it has struck more than 2,000 targets in Iran since launching its joint bombing campaign with Israel, while, it says, Iran has launched over 500 ballistic missiles and more than 2,000 drones.
The US and Israel are continuing to use intense firepower against Iran. In a video statement, Admiral Brad Cooper, the commander of US Central Command, said the first 24 hours of their joint operation had been nearly double the scale of the shock and awe strikes that began the US-led Iraq War in 2003.
With the mission involving more than 50,000 troops, 200 fighter jets, two aircraft carriers and bombers, he said this represents “the largest build-up by the US in the Middle East in a generation”.
He said American forces had destroyed 17 Iranian ships, sinking the entire Iranian navy. Now, he added, the focus was “on shooting all the things that can shoot at us”.
The US and Israel say they’ve targeted Iran’s air defences and hundreds of ballistic missiles, launchers and drones.
In the past few hours, Israel said it was carrying out “a broad wave of strikes” on Iran while simultaneously attacking Hezbollah in Lebanon. It also said its air defences had intercepted more missiles fired from Iran and Lebanon.
