West Asia conflict intensifies: Pro-Iran group attacks Erbil hotel, drones intercepted in Saudi, Israel strikes Hezbollah in Lebanon

BAGHDAD: Tensions continued to escalate across West Asia on Tuesday, with multiple incidents reported in Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon, according to various media outlets. An Iraqi armed group has claimed responsibility for an attack on a hotel in Erbil that it alleges houses US troops, Al Jazeera reported.

In Saudi Arabia, the Saudi Defence Ministry said eight drones were intercepted and destroyed near the cities of Riyadh and Al-Kharj, according to Al Arabiya.

Meanwhile, in Lebanon, IRNA News Agency reported that the Israeli regime attacked the headquarters of Al-Manar, a broadcaster affiliated with Hezbollah. According to IRNA, Al-Manar resumed broadcasting its programmes minutes after the reported strike. Earlier, Israel said that the head of Hezbollah’s intelligence arm was killed in an overnight strike and Beirut said it would ban the terror group’s military activities.

Smoke rises from Azadi camp in Erbil’s Koya district, the mayor tells Rudaw.

The camp houses members and families of the Iranian Kurdish opposition group, the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI). pic.twitter.com/4aXRPzprJy

— Rudaw English (@RudawEnglish) March 3, 2026

The Israel Defence Forces confirmed that the overnight strike in the Lebanese capital killed Hussein Makled, whom it called “the head of Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters.” The developments come amid heightened hostilities in West Asia, with cross-border strikes and aerial interceptions raising concerns about further regional spillover.

Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday (local time) backed the US-Israeli military action against Iran as a part of Operation Epic Fury/Roaring Lion, noting that it protects not only the US, Israel, but also the world at large from ‘theological thuggery’.

In an interview with Fox News, the Israeli PM said, “It’s not a terrible thing to protect humanity, to protect America, to protect Israel, to protect the free world from this theological thuggery. These fanatics who don’t care — who just export death, mass death, everywhere.”

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi accused the United States of entering a “war of choice” on behalf of Israel, following remarks by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio defending recent American military action against Iran and emphasised the made-up ‘threat’ of Iran by the US.

In a post on X, Araghchi said on Tuesday, “Rubio admitted what we all knew: U.S. has entered a war of choice on behalf of Israel. There was never any so-called Iranian ‘threat’.” He further stated, “Shedding of both American and Iranian blood is thus on Israel Firsters. The American people deserve better and should take back their country.”

Araghchi’s remarks came after Rubio said the US military operation against Iran was aimed at “eliminating” threats posed by Iran’s short-range ballistic missiles and its naval capabilities, particularly concerning risks to global shipping routes.

Speaking to the press on Capitol Hill on Monday (local time), Rubio made it clear that the primary goal of the operation was to neutralise Iran’s ballistic missile and naval threats. “That is the clear objective of this mission,” Rubio said and added that the focus was on preventing a potential threat to the US and its allies. (ANI)