Israeli strikes on Lebanon killed 203 persons on Wednesday and injured more than 1,000, the Lebanese health ministry was quoted as saying by BBC.

With the attacks starting hours after a ceasefire was announced between the United States and Iran, Tehran closed the Strait of Hormuz again, state-owned Press TV reported.

The Israeli military said that it had, in a 10-minute operation, conducted “the largest coordinated strike” in Lebanon since the conflict in West Asia began.

The strikes had targeted more than 100 structures allegedly associated with the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in Beirut, Beqaa and southern Lebanon, the Israeli military said.

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Here are more top updates from the conflict in West Asia:

  • Washington on Hormuz closure: Following Iranian state media reports that the Strait of Hormuz was shut despite the ceasefire, the US said that Iran must open the strategic waterway “immediately, quickly and safely”. Any closure of the strait “is completely unacceptable”, Euro News quoted White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt as having told reporters.
  • Alternative routes: On Thursday, Iran announced alternative routes for ships travelling through the Strait of Hormuz, citing the risk of sea mines in the main zone of the waterway, The Hindu reported. “All ships intending to transit the Strait of Hormuz are hereby notified that in order to comply with the principles of maritime safety and to be protected from possible collisions with sea mines...they should take alternative routes for traffic in the Strait of Hormuz,” the newspaper reported local media as having quoted Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. The statement had details about an alternative entry and exit route through the strait.
  • Iran says ceasefire violated: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Israel’s strikes on Lebanon are a “blatant violation” of the ceasefire. On social media, he said: “Renewed aggression by the Zionist regime against Lebanon blatantly violates the initial ceasefire. Such actions signal deception and non-compliance, rendering negotiations meaningless. Our hands remain on the trigger.”
  • MB Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s Parliament, said on Wednesday that while the US president had stated that Tehran’s 10-point plan is a “workable basis on which to negotiate”, clauses of the proposal had been violated. Ghalibaf said that the point about the ceasefire in Lebanon, as shared publicly by Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, was not being complied with.
  • Ghalibaf said that denial of Iran’s right to uranium enrichment, which is in the negotiation framework, also violated the ceasefire. He added that drones had continued to intrude the Iranian airspace.
  • He said that the “workable basis on which to negotiate” had been violated even before the talks began, making the bilateral ceasefire or negotiations “unreasonable”.
  • Meanwhile, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh told BBC that Tehran had told Washington it cannot “ask for a ceasefire and then accept terms and conditions”. The US must choose whether it wants war or peace, he added. “They cannot have it both at the same time,” said Khatibzadeh.
  • Attacks on Lebanon: US Vice President JD Vance ​told reporters on Wednesday that Tehran thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon, but Washington had ​not agreed to that. “I think ​this comes from a legitimate misunderstanding,” Reuters quoted the US vice president as saying. However, Vance said that Israel has “⁠offered to...check themselves a little bit in Lebanon, because they want ⁠to ​make sure that our ​negotiation is successful”.
  • On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Tel Aviv supports US President Donald Trump’s decision to suspend the attacks on Iran, but added that the ceasefire “does not include Lebanon”. This came after the Pakistani prime minister said that the ceasefire would include Lebanon.
  • Trump demands compliance with agreement: The US president on Thursday said that all US military assets and personnel will remain in place in West Asia until a “real agreement reached is fully complied with”. Trump threatened to resume “shooting” if the agreement is not complied with. “It was agreed, a long time ago, and despite all of the fake rhetoric to the contrary – no nuclear weapons and, the Strait of Hormuz will be open and safe,” he said on social media.
  • US negotiations team: Vance, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Senior Advisor Jared Kushner will lead the US delegation at the negotiations with Iran in Islamabad, Pakistan on the weekend, the White House said.
  • European nations condemn Lebanon strikes: The United Kingdom Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the country “strongly” wants Lebanon included in the ceasefire and expressed concern about escalating Israeli strikes and their humanitarian impact, Sky News reported. France also criticised the attacks, with Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot describing them as “unacceptable” and warning that they could undermine the truce, AFP reported.
  • President Emmanuel Macron said he had spoken to Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian and Trump, and conveyed that including Lebanon was “a necessary condition for the ceasefire to be credible and lasting”, Reuters reported.
  • Israel casualty update: The Israel Ministry of Health on Thursday said that since the start of the war, 7,451 persons have been taken to hospitals, with 118 still admitted, including two in critical condition, 13 serious, 25 moderate and 74 with mild injuries.
  • Global oil prices: The price of benchmark Brent crude was nearly $97 per barrel on Thursday from what had fallen to about $92 a day earlier, when the ceasefire was announced. The price was $78 per barrel on February 27, a day before the conflict started.

The war

The US and Israel launched an attack on Iran on February 28, claiming that Tehran’s action posed an existential threat to Israel. Washington acts as a guarantor of Israel’s security. Iran has retaliated by striking Israel and US military bases in the region and targeting major cities in Gulf countries.

Tehran has also effectively blocked the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterbody connecting the Gulf to the Arabian Sea, for most international commercial vessels, triggering a global energy crisis. About 20% of global petroleum supply passes through the maritime chokepoint.

Israel has been claiming that Iran is close to obtaining a nuclear weapon, which could alter the regional security balance. Tehran has long maintained that its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes.