The China Mail - Iran hits Kurdish groups in Iraq as conflict widens

The conflict that began Saturday with US-Israeli strikes that killed Iran's supreme leader has spread across much of the region, sparking global economic pressure, energy disruptions and travel chaos.

Iran's retaliatory strikes have targeted many of its Gulf neighbours which host US military bases, while Israel has hit Lebanon and moved forces across the border.

On Thursday, Tehran said it had hit Iraq-based Kurdish groups "opposed to the revolution", as reports said the United States was looking to arm Kurdish guerillas to infiltrate Iran.

The strikes which killed a member from an exiled Iranian Kurdish group, according to a representative, followed a warning from Iranian officials.

"Separatist groups should not think that a breeze has blown and try to take action," said Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council.

"We will not tolerate them in any way."

The strikes were further evidence of how the war launched by the United States and Israel is drawing in parties across the region.

It has also caused market ructions and will test global economic resilience "yet again," the head of the International Monetary Fund warned Thursday.

Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards have claimed the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the Gulf chokepoint through which a fifth of the world's crude oil flows, with oil tanker transits down 90 percent, according to market intelligence firm Kpler.

US officials from President Donald Trump down have given varying reasons for starting the war and shifting explanations of its aims.

It was launched without explicit approval from lawmakers, but the US Senate on Wednesday rejected a resolution aimed at curbing Trump's authority to continue strikes.

- Deaths in Lebanon -

Early Thursday, Iranian news agency Tasnim reported several explosions were heard in Tehran, and that Iran has activated its defences.

There were no immediate details on impacts.

The blasts came as Israel said it had launched a "large-scale wave of strikes against infrastructure of the Iranian terror regime across Tehran."

Earlier, Iran had fired off missiles at Israel.

AFP reporters in Jerusalem heard explosions but there were no immediate reports of casualties, and Israel's military later cleared people to leave shelters.

Across the border in Lebanon, state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported several strikes early Thursday, including two in the Hezbollah stronghold of south Beirut, where AFPTV footage showed smoke rising.

Citing the health ministry, NNA said that an Israeli strike on an apartment in Beddawi, a Palestinian refugee camp near Tripoli, killed at least two people and wounded a third.

And on a road in south Lebanon, a drone hit a vehicle, killing three people, NNA reported, without detailing who was behind the strike.

Israel did not immediately claim any of the latest attacks, but its strikes have killed at least 75 people and displaced tens of thousands in recent days.

Lebanon has been drawn into the conflict since Iran-backed Hezbollah began firing rockets at Israel, and Israeli troops have now pushed into border towns forcing mass evacuations.

- Qatar evacuations -

Iran has retaliated against the US-Israeli strikes by hitting US-linked interests in its Gulf neighbours, as well as energy infrastructure.

Qatar said Thursday it was evacuating residents living near the US embassy in the capital Doha, after earlier announcing it had thwarted attacks on Hamad International Airport.

Qatar earlier warned residents to "remain inside homes and buildings" and "avoid going out except when necessary."

Thirteen people, seven of them civilians, have been killed in countries around the Gulf since the war began, including an 11-year-old girl in Kuwait.

The United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar all said they had intercepted Iranian missiles on Wednesday, including a drone set to hit the Saudis' huge Ras Tanura refinery.

Turkey too has been dragged in, after a missile launched from Iran was destroyed by NATO air defences as it headed towards its airspace.

While a Turkish official said the missile appeared to have been aimed at a British base in Cyprus, Turkey summoned the Iranian ambassador over the incident.

Its foreign minister also warned his Iranian counterpart to avoid "any steps that could lead to the spread of conflict."

The war appeared to be spreading nonetheless, with the United States torpedoing an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka on Wednesday.

Sri Lankan officials have recovered 87 bodies, with over 60 remaining missing in the strike on the IRIS Dena frigate.

Another 32 sailors were rescued by Sri Lankan forces.

Iran's official IRNA news agency said 1,045 military personnel and civilians have been killed since the war began, a toll AFP could not independently verify.

Iran says more than 150 people, many of them children, were killed in a strike on a school Saturday in the southern town of Minab.

AFP reporters could not independently access the site to verify the toll. US officials have said they are investigating the reported deaths.

US authorities say six soldiers have died in the war.

- Economic impacts -

In Washington, the US Senate on Wednesday rejected a resolution aimed at limiting US military action.

The bid failed along largely party lines, with Republicans backing Trump.

Even if the measure had cleared the Senate and the House -- where a vote on a similar resolution is expected Thursday -- Trump would have been able to veto it.

IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva meanwhile warned Thursday that the conflict would test global economic resilience.

"We are potentially in a prolonged period of flux," she said.

A tanker in the waters off Kuwait became the latest casualty of the conflict, after it was hit with a "large explosion" that caused an oil spill, the British maritime security agency UKMTO reported.

China also announced it would send a special envoy to mediate in the conflict, though it gave no further details.

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