The Albany Gazette - Deadly strikes across Mideast as Iran vows revenge on slain security chief

A barrage of Iranian missiles killed two people near Israel's commercial hub Tel Aviv overnight, while Iranian media said seven people were killed in strikes in its western Lorestan province, a toll AFP could not verify.

Deadly attacks were also reported Wednesday in Lebanon, which has been pulled into the Middle East war by Iran-backed Hezbollah, with the health ministry saying Israeli strikes on central Beirut killed at least 12 people.

Larijani is the most prominent figure of the Islamic republic killed since Israel and the United States launched their attacks on Iran on February 28 with a wave of strikes that killed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and ignited a war across the Middle East.

According to Iran's Fars and Tasnim news agencies, funerals for Larijani and another powerful figure killed by Israel, Gholamreza Soleimani, the head of the Basij paramilitary force, will take place from 1030 GMT in Tehran.

It was not certain the funerals would go ahead -- the slain ayatollah's funeral was due to be held days after he was killed, but that was later postponed indefinitely.

However, the Mehr news agency published a photo of Larijani's coffin bearing his photo and draped with the Iranian flag, alongside that of his son, whose death was also announced.

Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards said on Wednesday they had launched missiles at central Israel as retaliation for Larijani's death and warned of more to come.

The "pure blood of this great martyr... will be a source of honour, power and national awakening against the front of global arrogance," it said.

- Deaths in Israel, Lebanon -

An Iranian missile barrage killed two people near Israel's commercial hub of Tel Aviv, medics said on Wednesday, while authorities said falling munitions hit multiple sites in central Israel overnight.

Police said a cluster bomb hit a residential building in Ramat Gan, a city just outside Tel Aviv, and the roof collapsed on an elderly couple.

Omer, a resident of the area who only gave his first name, said "we heard like a streak of booms... it was not just one, it was a splitting missile".

Iranian media, meanwhile reported strikes in Lorestan province and Hamedan city, both in the west of Iran, as well as Fars province in the south.

And in Lebanon, state media said Israel struck central Beirut early Wednesday without warning, with the health ministry reporting at least 12 dead and 41 wounded in the Basta and Zuqaq al-Blat neighbourhoods.

An Israeli strike also hit a car in the centre of Sidon, southern Lebanon's largest city, killing two people including a civil defence rescuer, the health ministry said.

An AFP correspondent at the scene said the strike hit near the city's civil defence headquarters and the seaside road, where many displaced people are sleeping in their cars.

More than one million people have registered as displaced in Lebanon, which was drawn into the war when Hezbollah launched rockets towards Israel over the ayatollah's death.

- Political assassinations -

Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan lashed out at Israel on Tuesday, condemning its "political assassinations" of Tehran's leaders as "illegal activities outside the normal laws of war".

Israel also said this week it had targeted Akram al-Ajouri, head of the military wing of the group Palestinian Islamic Jihad, in a strike in Iran, part of a strategy since the October 7 attacks by Hamas to kill the leaders of its enemies.

It has vowed to target Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not appeared in public since he succeeded his father.

"We will track him down, find him, and neutralise him," military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin told reporters.

In contrast to Mojtaba Khamenei, Larijani, 68, had walked openly with crowds at a pro-government rally last week in Tehran.

He had "effectively been the figure in charge of the regime's survival, its regional policy and its defence strategy," David Khalfa, co-founder of the Atlantic Middle East Forum, told AFP.

- US pounds Strait of Hormuz -

In addition to its attacks on Israel and its neighbours, Iran has been hitting the global economy through attacks on energy infrastructure in the oil-rich Gulf.

Its attacks and threats against ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz have all but closed the key waterway, through which a fifth of global oil and LNG flows.

With oil still hovering around $100 a barrel, the US military said it brought out some of the heaviest bombs in its arsenal to penetrate sites near to the strait.

The United States dropped several 5,000-pound (2,250 kg) bombs on "hardened Iranian missile sites" near the coast that posed a threat to international shipping, Central Command said.

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday fumed that American allies, which have largely distanced themselves from his war, were not lining up behind the United States to escort tankers through the Strait of Hormuz.

But he also insisted on his Truth Social platform: "WE DO NOT NEED THE HELP OF ANYONE!"

Oil prices sank Wednesday after Iraq -- a major oil producer and home to US-led coalition troops who have also been targeted by Iran -- said it had resumed very limited oil exports through Turkey, avoiding the Strait of Hormuz.

However, analysts warned the positive mood could fade if the crisis drags on.

burs-ar/dcp

(W.Williams--TAG)