Israeli strike near Beirut kills two

BEIRUT, Mar 24 (AFP/AP): An Israeli strike on Bshamoun, south of Beirut, killed two people on Tuesday, Lebanon's health ministry said, while strikes on the capital's southern suburbs continued throughout the night.

"The Israeli enemy raid on the town of Bshamoun in the Aley district resulted, in a preliminary toll, in the martyrdom of two citizens and the injury of five others," the ministry said in a statement.

Located in the mountainous, Druze-majority Aley district southeast of Beirut, Bshamoun lies outside of Hezbollah's traditional strongholds.

Lebanon was pulled into the Middle East war when Iran-backed Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel on March 2 to avenge the killing of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a US-Israel attack.

Israel has since launched strikes across Lebanon, killing at least 1,039 people, and sent ground troops into the country's south.

Separately, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported that Israel's overnight attacks on Beirut's southern suburbs, where Hezbollah holds sway, had targeted seven areas.

"Enemy warplanes launched seven raids overnight on the southern suburbs, targeting the areas of: Bir al-Abed, Al-Ruwais -- outskirts of Al-Manshiyya, Haret Hreik, Sayyed Hadi Nasrallah Highway, Saint Therese, Burj al-Barajneh and Al-Kafaat," NNA said on Tuesday.

A strike in western Iraq on Tuesday killed a commander and 14 fighters from the former paramilitary coalition Hashed al-Shaabi, a statement from the group said, updating the toll and blaming the United States.

The fighters from the Hashed al-Shaabi, also known as the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), were killed in a "treacherous American attack that targeted the operation headquarters" in western Anbar province, the statement said. An earlier toll put the toll at seven. The PMF is now part of Iraq's regular army, but also includes some pro-Iranian groups.

Iran strikes near Israeli

nuclear research centre

Iranian missiles struck two communities in southern Israel late Saturday, leaving buildings shattered and dozens injured in dual attacks not far from Israel's main nuclear research center, while President Donald Trump warned the U.S. will "obliterate" Iranian power plants if it doesn't fully open the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours.

The developments signaled the war was moving in a dangerous new direction at the start of its fourth week.

Trump - who is facing increasing pressure at home to secure the strait as oil prices soar - issued the ultimatum in a social media post while he spent the weekend at his Florida home. Trump said he's giving Iran 48 hours to open the vital waterway or face a new round of attacks. He said the U.S. would destroy "various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!"

Iran warned early Sunday that any strike on its energy facilities would prompt attacks on U.S. and Israeli energy and infrastructure assets in the region, according to a statement carried by Iran's state media and semiofficial outlets, citing an Iranian military spokesperson.