Latest war news. Explosion in Damascus: at least 9 dead and 20 injured

Maher Marwan, governor of Damascus, has stated that those responsible for the explosion at a café in the capital will be held to account. “The coming hours will reveal all, and those who have shed the blood of Syrians will pay, but Syria will be fine as long as we remain united, and this will not shake the Syrian state,” the governor told an Al Jazeera reporter in Damascus. “Numerous measures are being taken to ensure Syria’s security; the number of security forces is increasing day by day, and there has been a marked improvement within the Ministry of the Interior,” he said. “It will take time for the Syrian state to achieve stability. The Ministry of the Interior has done a good job in recent months. Despite starting from the ruins, there has been a marked improvement,” Marwan said. “Day by day, those who have undermined Syria’s security will be identified. The more stability Syria achieves, the more there will be who seek to undermine it.”

Israeli drones carried out two attacks today in Nabatieh al-Fawka, near Ghandour Hospital, in southern Lebanon. This has been reported by the Lebanese media, which state that no casualties have been reported so far.

The United States has offered Iran the release of billions of dollars’ worth of frozen assets in exchange for Tehran renouncing its claims to the Strait of Hormuz, according to the Wall Street Journal.

“Today we once again urge Iran to return to the path of peace and dialogue. The world is not on Iran’s side. Neither the Iranian people nor its neighbouring countries support this regime.” This was stated by the US Ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, speaking before the Security Council. Addressing “all responsible nations”, he emphasised that “the time has come to choose; please make your position clear”. Waltz reiterated that the attacks against Bahrain and Kuwait “are fundamentally illegitimate, incompatible with the Memorandum of Understanding, blatantly violate this Council’s Resolution 2817 and are detrimental to the future of the Iranian people”.

US President Donald Trump is set to announce the go-ahead for the sale of US-made engines for Turkey’s fifth-generation Kaan fighter jets during the NATO summit scheduled for next week in Ankara. According to an editorial by journalist Hande Firat, published in the daily newspaper Hurriyet, Trump will be in the Turkish capital the day before the summit, which officially opens on 7 July, and will hold a one-on-one meeting with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, ahead of talks between delegations from Washington and Ankara. “The day before the summit, Trump will be hosted for an official visit to the presidential palace. He is expected to announce the approval of the sale of engines for the Kaan jets, and will first meet President Erdogan for a one-on-one discussion, followed by a meeting between the delegations. A joint press conference is also planned,” reads Firat’s editorial. According to the Turkish journalist, among the issues at the centre of discussions between Erdogan and Trump, in addition to the engines for the Kaan fighter jets, there will also be “the CAATSA sanctions” imposed by the US, which were introduced following Turkey’s purchase of the Russian S-400 missile defence system and led to Ankara’s withdrawal from cooperation with Washington on the F-35 fighter jets. “Turkey’s security expectations regarding Syria, the measures expected from Washington concerning the PKK/YPG, and the US military presence in the region are also among the most critical items on the agenda. Other topics include the ceasefire process in Gaza, tensions between Israel and Iran, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, security in the Black Sea and cooperation within NATO,” the editorial states.

The death toll from the explosion at a bar in the capital, Damascus, has risen to six dead and 22 injured. This was reported by the Syrian Ministry of Health, as quoted by the Syrian state television channel Al-Ikhbariya. No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack. Security forces quickly cordoned off the area to carry out investigations. The Interior Ministry is expected to announce its initial findings shortly, said the governor of Damascus, Maher Idlibi, who described the device as appearing “primitive”. Idlibi promised that those responsible would be held to account for their actions. A video circulating on social media showed several injured people lying on the ground, with police officers nearby. Subsequently, a number of ambulances rushed to the scene to provide assistance and transport the most seriously injured to hospital.

Whilst preparations continue for the state funeral of the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Command has warned “Iran’s enemies, in particular the United States and Israel”, to “avoid any miscalculation and to bear in mind the severe retaliation that our armed forces would launch against any threat or aggression directed at our country”. This was stated by Commander Ali Abdollahi in a statement released by state media.

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, will not attend the funeral ceremony in honour of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on 28 February in an air raid on Tehran on the first day of the Israeli-American war against Iran, for security reasons. Ayatollah Hakim Elahi made this statement to the television channel ‘India Today’, explaining that Israel’s ongoing threats against Iranian leaders are the reason why Mojtaba Khamenei will be unable to attend. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz recently said that Khamenei was “condemned to death”.

Five Peshmerga fighters from the Iranian Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDPI) were killed in clashes with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps near the town of Piranshahr, in western Iran. This was reported by a source from Iran’s oldest Kurdish opposition party to the Kurdish broadcaster Rudaw.

For their part, the Iranian media reported a “swift and surprise operation” by the Pasdaran that led to the “dismantling of a terrorist group belonging to separatist factions”. As Rudaw points out, since the start of the US and Israeli war against Iran at the end of February, Iran has stepped up its attacks on Kurdish groups in the Kurdistan region, after it emerged that these groups might launch a ground operation with US support.

The death toll from an explosion at a crowded café in the centre of Damascus, Syria, has risen to five. A further 16 people were injured. Syrian state television reported that the explosion was caused by a bomb planted in the café near the Palace of Justice, in the centre of the Syrian capital.

At least four people have been killed and ten injured in an explosion that took place a short while ago at a café in central Damascus. This is according to the official Syrian news agency, Sana.

Lebanon “will not cede a single centimetre of its territory” to Israel. This was emphasised by President Joseph Aoun, according to a statement issued by the presidency, as he once again defended the negotiations launched with Israel, with US mediation, to bring the conflict to an end. Yesterday, the Israeli Defence Minister, Israel Katz, stated that the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) would remain in southern Lebanon “indefinitely”.

“We will not cede a single centimetre of Lebanese territory, and we will be judged by our actions, because the goals we have set ourselves are no different from those of all Lebanese people, without exception,” said the president during a meeting today with a delegation from the Maronite League.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is to attend the funeral of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. This was announced by the spokesperson for the Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tahir Andrabi, who added that Sharif “will be on an official visit to Iran and Turkey from 3 to 5 June”.

The Prime Minister will be accompanied on his visit by the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Mohammad Ishaq Dar, the spokesperson said.

Donald Trump has once again attacked NATO. “The United States spends more on NATO than any other country – by a wide margin – to ensure its protection, without deriving any benefit from it,” the president stated on his social media platform Truth, listing the expenditure figures for the United States and a number of other countries, including Italia. “United States $999 billion, United Kingdom $90.5 billion, France $66.5 billion, Italia $48.8 billion, Poland $44.3 billion. The figures for other countries, including Germany, are much lower,” Trump pointed out.

The next round of indirect talks between the United States and Iran is set to begin on 18 July. This was reported by the Saudi broadcaster Al-Hadath, citing a high-level source. It has not yet been specified where the talks will take place.

An Iranian military commander today warned the United States and Israel against any attack on Iran, as the country prepares for the state funeral of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader, who was killed in an air raid on the first day of the war. “We warn Iran’s enemies, in particular the United States and the Zionist regime, to avoid any miscalculation and to bear in mind the severe retaliation that our armed forces would inflict in response to any threat or aggression against our country,” said Ali Abdollahi, commander of the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Command, in a statement released by state media.

The funeral processions for Khamenei will begin on 4 July in Tehran and conclude on 9 July with his burial in his hometown of Mashhad, with further ceremonies scheduled to take place in Qom and in Iraq between these two dates. Yesterday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi issued a similar warning, stating that Tehran would respond immediately and forcefully to any threat against its people or its leadership, following statements by Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz, in which he claimed that Iran’s current Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, was “condemned to death”.

The Iranian ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani, has warned the global organisation and the member states of the UN Security Council about Israel’s threat – “neither isolated nor rhetorical” – to target the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei. This was reported by IRNA. In a letter, Iravani drew the urgent attention of the United Nations and the members of the Security Council to the latest public threat made by the Israeli Minister of War, Israel Katz, against the Supreme Leader. He pointed out that the Israeli minister had publicly declared that Ayatollah Khamenei was “sentenced to death”. “This threat is neither isolated nor rhetorical,” Iravani’s letter states. “It forms part of a deliberate and systematic policy of state terrorism, targeting senior Iranian state officials, pursued in the context of the Israeli regime’s illegal acts of aggression against Iran.”

Striscione che raffigura il ritratto della Guida Suprema iraniana, l’Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi) Associated Press/ LaPresse Solo Italia e Spagna

Iran’s joint military command, Khatam al-Anbiya, has threatened all oil tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz, stating that they must use the routes designated by the command itself, otherwise there will be a “powerful response”. The statement by Khatam al-Anbiya, reported by Iranian state television, comes after US and Iranian diplomats held indirect talks on Wednesday with mediators in Qatar. “Any failure to comply, deviation from the designated route or non-observance of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s navigation protocols in the Strait of Hormuz will be met with an immediate and decisive response from the armed forces, putting the safety of the offending vessels at risk”, reads the Iranian statement.

All commercial vessels are required to follow the designated shipping lane to pass safely through the Strait of Hormuz, or face serious consequences. This warning has been issued by the Iranian military headquarters, according to Al Jazeera. “Any US interference in the Strait of Hormuz will be met with a firm and swift response from the armed forces,” the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Command stated in a press release. “The Strait of Hormuz is not the American aggressor’s playground, but rather territory under the undisputed sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran.” The Fars news agency reported the statement, adding that “the security and maintenance of stability in this vital waterway represent a red line for the powerful armed forces of Islamic Iran”.

The United States has partially resumed sending US dollar cash to Iraq, several months after suspending the practice in an attempt to put pressure on the Iraqi government to distance itself from Iran. This was reported by the New York Times, quoting Haider al-Aboudi, spokesperson for the new Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al Zaidi.

“Dollar shipments to Iraq have resumed… the problem has been resolved,” al-Aboudi said, according to the newspaper. The US State Department referred a request for comment to the Treasury Department, which did not provide an immediate response, the newspaper added.

The Speaker of the Iranian Parliament and chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, has urged Iranians to turn out in large numbers for the funeral of the Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the attacks carried out by the United States and Israel at the start of the war, on 28 February. In a statement, Ghalibaf urged “the entire Iranian people” to “write a glorious page in the history of Islamic Iran” by taking part in the funeral ceremonies due to begin on Saturday. “The nation’s call for vengeance must ring out in the ears of the whole world,” added Ghalibaf, linking the popular mobilisation to the response to the Supreme Leader’s death.

“Just as I promised, oil prices are falling rapidly and petrol prices at the pump are also falling, although not as quickly as they should.” US President Donald Trump wrote this on Truth, assuring that “America has never been as strong as it is today, and petrol prices will soon return to the historic lows that Americans enjoyed before our ‘trip’ to Iran, which proved to be a great success”.

“After 1,000 days of war, at least 21,000 children have been killed in the Gaza Strip”, but the actual figure “is likely to be much higher, given the unknown number of those buried under the rubble”. This is according to Save the Children. “According to the Site Management Cluster, over 800,000 children and adolescents – around 80 per cent of Gaza’s children – are displaced, and 7,000 are unaccompanied or separated from their families. The 625,000 school-age children and adolescents have lost three years of formal education, whilst an estimated 245,000 children are at risk of or suffering from malnutrition”, adds the organisation, calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, for governments to immediately suspend arms transfers to Israel, and for full accountability to be ensured for crimes against children.

The head of the Iranian negotiating delegation has once again denied that inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will be granted access to the nuclear sites bombed by the United States.

According to Al Jazeera, the Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who heads the Iranian negotiating delegation, told state television that it is not true that inspectors will be granted access to Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan.

“NATO countries have said they do not want to help; they have not behaved properly.” Thus, in his speech at the opening of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in North Dakota, Donald Trump once again criticised NATO allies for what he considers to be their failure to assist the United States in the conflict with Iran.

- Negotiators from the US and Iran have made “positive progress” during indirect talks in Doha, with the next round scheduled to take place after the funeral of Iran’s former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, according to Majed Al Ansari, spokesperson for the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (