Two US soldiers killed as Gulf allies decry Iran's retaliatory attacks

HEADLINES IN BRIEF

• Two US service members were killed and one went missing in action in Jordan following a barrage of missile and drone strikes from Iran, according to US Central Command. CENTCOM said the soldiers were killed on Friday. READ MORE BELOW

• Iranian supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei vowed to teach the US "unforgettable lessons," saying Washington's attacks in spite of a framework deal to end the war showed US President Donald Trump's signature to be worthless. READ MORE BELOW

• The United States announced Saturday it launched new airstrikes - the eighth consecutive night of military assaults - to punish Iran for the Islamic republic's deadly attacks against US forces.

• Iran's Revolutionary Guard says it intercepted and destroyed a US MQ9 drone in Ahvaz, a city in the eastern Khuzestan region that borders Iraq. An MQ-9 is a large, remotely piloted unmanned aerial vehicle designed primarily for intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and air strikes, according to a description by the US Air Force.

• Hezbollah held a mass funeral for dozens of people, most of them fighters killed in the most recent fighting with Israel, in southern Lebanon's Majdal Selm. In the heavily damaged village, Hezbollah buried 44 people, 39 of them fighters and four civilians said to have been killed in Israeli operations, and one man who died of natural causes.

• The secretary general of the Gulf Cooperation Council condemned recent Iranian attacks on Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan, saying strikes on civilian infrastructure amounted to "war crimes."

• Kuwait said Iran had struck a power and water plant as well as an oil facility, accusing it of targeting civilian infrastructure. Kuwait's state oil firm also reported injuries and damage after an Iranian attack targeting the oil facility, according to the state news agency. READ MORE BELOW

• Lebanese President Joseph Aoun left Beirut for Washington, his office said. He is expected to meet Trump and hold discussions about strengthening the ceasefire and "the withdrawal of Israel from the Lebanese regions it occupies.

• Bahrain's army said its "air-defense systems thwarted" a wave of Iranian attacks. A  journalist in Manama reported hearing blasts after sirens sounded.

• Israeli forces have launched new ground raids across Syria's Quneitra countryside over the past two days. Five military vehicles entered the town of al-Samdaniyah al-Sharqiyah, and soldiers established a checkpoint and searched passers-by on Saturday, according to the Syrian state news agency, SANA.

IN DETAIL

US continues attacks on Iran after fatalities

The United States said it was carrying out airstrikes aimed to "punish" Iran over the first US military deaths since renewed hostilities with the Islamic republic.

Tehran had also launched fresh strikes in Jordan, where the US military's Central Command (CENTCOM) said two service members were killed on Friday as they "defended against Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks."

It said another service member was still missing in action.

Those deaths brought to 16 the confirmed number of US military fatalities since US-Israeli strikes started the war on February 28.

The Iranian news agencies Fars and Tasnim simultaneously reported US attacks on Sirik, a port located on the Strait of Hormuz in southern Iran.

Iran carries out 'large-scale' attacks on US allies

Kuwait and Bahrain's militaries said they were responding to Iranian aerial attacks, and air raid sirens sounded in the two Gulf countries as Tehran pressed its retaliatory strikes across the region.  

"Kuwaiti air defenses are currently confronting hostile missile and drone attacks, following the sinful Iranian aggression," the army said in a statement, as a journalist reported warning sirens sounding in Kuwait City.

In Bahrain, host of the US Fifth Fleet, the miltiary said its air defenses "confronted, intercepted, and destroyed a number of treacherous Iranian aerial attacks." 

In the early hours of Sunday, Iran's army said it had targeted two US bases in Kuwait with drones in response to American attacks on Iranian territory.

Iran said earlier it carried out "large-scale attacks with kamikaze drones against the US military's ammunition depot at Camp Udairi and the Patriot radar system and air surveillance radar at Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait", according to a statement on state media.

Both Kuwait and Bahrain, which host US military installations, have borne the brunt of attacks by Iran on its Gulf neighbors since hostilities resumed this month. 

Iran's Khamenei vows to teach US 'unforgettable lesson' 

Iranian supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who took over from his father after he was killed in the opening salvo of US-Israeli strikes, vowed to teach the Americans an "unforgettable lesson," in a statement carried by state TV.

Major General Mohsen Rezaei, a senior military adviser to Khamenei, warned that Tehran would resume "full-scale offensive operations" if US strikes continued in the coming days.

And Iran's central military commander, Ali Abdollahi, warned that further US aggression would face a "decisive and devastating response," according to a statement carried by state television.

The renewed violence was initially sparked by Iranian attacks on ships in the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

Iran's health ministry said Friday that 50 people had been killed since the renewed fighting broke out and more than 500 hurt.