BRUSSELS, Mar 03 (AP/AFP/Reuters): NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has praised the military actions of the United States and Israel against Iran but made it clear that the alliance has no plans to become involved in the Middle East conflict.
Speaking to Germany's ARD television from Brussels, Rutte said it is "really important" what the United States is doing "together with Israel" to degrade Iran's ability to develop nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.
However, he stressed that NATO as an alliance will not participate. "There are absolutely no plans whatsoever for NATO to get dragged into this or to be part of it," Rutte said, while noting that individual NATO allies may still choose to support US efforts.
Israel army issues
new evacuation
warnings in Lebanon
The Israeli military issued new evacuation orders for dozens of locations in Lebanon on Tuesday, including warning residents in two southern Beirut neighbourhoods to stay away from several buildings ahead of an imminent operation.
Israel's military on Monday vowed to intensify its attacks on the country and make Hezbollah pay a "heavy price" after rocket and drone fire from the Iran-backed militant group.
"Urgent warning to the residents of Lebanon, specifically in the villages which names are shown," said a statement by the military's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee on Telegram, which listed 50 locations.
UN urges probe into 'horrific'
attack on Iran school
The U.N. human rights office urged the "forces" behind an attack on a girls' school in Iran to investigate and share insights into the "horrific" incident, without naming them.
"The High Commissioner (Volker Turk) calls for a prompt, impartial and thorough investigation into the circumstances of the attack. The onus is on the forces that carried out the attack to investigate it," U.N. human rights office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told a Geneva press briefing, describing the incident as "horrific".
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said U.S. forces "would not deliberately target a school", after Iranian state media reported over 160 were killed on the first day of the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran.
UK planning to send warship
to defend Cyprus military base
Britain is planning to send a warship to defend its Royal Air Force Akrotiri base in Cyprus from Iranian attacks, the Times newspaper said on Tuesday.
An Iranian-made drone strike hit a runway at the Akrotiri base in the early hours of Monday, and Britain has said UK assets were targeted by Iran.
The Times report, citing three sources, said defence minister John Healey had a meeting on Tuesday with senior military figures, in which they discussed sending HMS Duncan to the region.
US urges Americans to
'depart now' from much
of Middle East
The United States on Monday urged Americans to leave all of the Middle East from Egypt eastward due to safety concerns after the United States and Israel attacked Iran.
The State Department "urges Americans to DEPART NOW from the countries below using available commercial transportation, due to serious safety risks," Mora Namdar, the assistant secretary of state for consular affairs, wrote on X, listing 14 countries.
