Selected War Updates Mar 5

18:05 – Missile and drone strikes reported in Bahrain

Reports on social media indicate a series of ballistic missile and drone strikes in Bahrain over the past hour.

Ballistic missiles targeted the Juffair naval base.

A short time later, drones and missiles were reported striking an oil processing facility run by the Bahrain Petroleum Company.

18:00 – Poll shows Netanyahu’s Likud increases seats in next election following Iran war

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party would increase from 27 seats last week to a projected 31 seats in the Knesset according to a poll conducted by Zman Yisrael, a sister site to The Times of Israel. It was the first poll conducted since the start of the Iran war.

However, the report stated that the increase in Likud seats would appear to come at the expense of other coalition parties and not improve the coalition’s overall performance in elections.

17:20 – Israel kills Hamas commander in Tripoli, Lebanon

The IDF announced a few minutes ago that it had eliminated a Hamas commander responsible for training operatives in Lebanon.

The Israeli Navy struck and eliminated terrorist Wasim Attallah Ali in the area of Tripoli. He reportedly served as a Hamas commander responsible for training and exercises for the organization’s military wing in Lebanon.

17:15 – Next phase of Iran war will target underground missile sites

The war in Iran is entering a second phase that will see Israeli fighter jets attacking ballistic missile sites buried ?deep underground, two sources familiar with Israel’s military campaign told Reuters.

Israel aims to neutralize the Islamic Republic’s ability to launch ballistic missiles at Israel by the end of the war, one source said.

An earlier IDF statement said the Israel Air Force struck “an underground infrastructure site used by the Iranian regime to store ballistic missiles and storage sites for missiles intended for use against aircraft.”

This is the first time the IDF announced such a strike on one of the regime’s heavily fortified underground missile facilities.

16:40 – Finance Minister Smotrich says Dahiyeh will look like Khan Younis

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich toured the northern border on Thursday, Ynet News reported, and said that “Hezbollah made a mistake and it will pay dearly for it.”

“We are cutting off the head of the octopus in Iran, and at the same time we are cutting off Hezbollah’s arm,” Smotrich said.

“Two years ago, we evacuated the residents of the north. Today, we issued evacuation notices to the residents of southern Lebanon and the Dahiyeh district, while on the Israeli side, the communities are flourishing and thriving again,” Smotrich said. “Very soon Dahiyeh will look like Khan Younis,” he added, making a reference to the Gaza neighborhood which was one of Hamas’ main strongholds.

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16:20 – Starmer says Britain to send 4 fighter planes to Qatar

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer gave a statement to the media, saying Britain would send four additional Typhoon fighter jets to Qatar.

“We will maintain this shield over British people in the region and our allies,” Starmer said.

16:18 – IAF has struck over 300 missile launchers since start of war

The Israeli Air Force has struck hundreds of launch sites and neutralized more than 300 ballistic missile launchers, the IDF announced today.

The IAF completed the 113th wave of strikes against Iranian terror regime targets in western and central Iran this morning.

Since the beginning of Operation Roaring Lion, over 300 missile launchers and defense systems were struck throughout Iran, with emphasis on western Iran, in order to further expand aerial superiority over Iran and minimize the scale of launches toward the State of Israel, the military said.

16:10 – Hezbollah fighters returning to southern Lebanon to confront IDF

Reuters reports that Hezbollah has deployed elite Radwan Force fighters to confront IDF troops operating in southern Lebanon.

The Radwan Force was moved north of the Litani River following the Lebanon Ceasefire agreement in November 2024. However, with IDF soldiers entering Lebanon to destroy Hezbollah infrastructure, the elite terror unit has been ordered to try to halt the progress of Israeli forces.

15:55 – Iranian military launches drone attack on US base in Erbil

The Iranian military said in a statement broadcast on state television that it had launched a drone attack against U.S. forces based in Erbil, Iraq.

15: 48 – US CENTCOM says Iran’s ability to target US and partners is declining

15:30 – 20,000 Israelis have returned since outbreak of war

The Transportation Ministry said that over 20,000 Israelis who were stranded abroad with the outbreak of military operations in Iran have returned to Israel.

This refers to Israelis returning via land border crossings and maritime routes, as repatriation flights only began early this morning.

The ministry estimates that around 120,000 Israelis are still stranded abroad.

15:15 – WATCH: IDF publishes first-ever documentation of fighter jet refueling

Revealing its first-ever documentation of fighter jet refueling, the IDF said around 550 refueling operations have been completed, transferring about 5 million pounds of fuel since the start of Operation Roaring Lion.

15:00 – Lebanon orders arrest of all IRGC operatives in the country

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam ordered for a ban on all military activity by the IRGC and the arrest of all its operatives as a step toward their deportation from Lebanon, the country’s information minister said.

Additionally, Lebanon’s cabinet decided that Iranians will no longer have visa-free entry to Lebanon.

14:40 – IDF orders unprecedented evacuation of southern Beirut neighborhood

The IDF Arabic spokesperson issued an unprecedented evacuation notice of the entire neighborhood of Dahiyeh, stronghold of Hezbollah in the Lebanese capital of Beirut.

This comes after Lebanese Social Affairs Minister Haneen Sayed said more than 80,000 have registered in shelters after fleeing southern Lebanon since Hezbollah entered the fighting, per local reports.

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13:32 – Iran denies responsibility for drone attack on Azerbaijani territory, blames Israel

Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, said he was unfamiliar with the claim that the Iranian regime was responsible for a drone attack on the Azerbaijani city of Nakhchivan.

“I heard about this incident from you, and I need to examine the source of the report in order to respond further,” he told the Azerbaijani outlet ANEWZ.

The General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces also denied the attack, stating, “Iran respects the sovereignty of all countries, especially Muslim and neighboring ones. This is a fabrication by the Zionist regime intended to destroy relations between Muslim states. According to the investigations that have been conducted, this action was carried out by the Zionist regime in order to blame Iran.”