Rockets fired at Iraq’s al-Asad air base, injuring US personnel

At least five US personnel have been injured in a rocket attack at a military base in Iraq, US defence officials say, in what has been a recent uptick in strikes on American forces by Iranian-backed militias.

Two Katyusha rockets were fired at al-Asad air base in western Iraq, two Iraqi security sources said.

It was unclear whether the attack was linked to threats by Iran to retaliate over last week’s killing of senior members of militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah.

The assassinations of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut sent regional tensions soaring.

The Australian government considers Hamas and Hezbollah to be terrorist organisations.

The US officials, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said one of the wounded Americans suffered serious injuries.

“Base personnel are conducting a post-attack damage assessment,” one of the officials said.

In recent weeks, Iranian-backed Iraqi militias have resumed launching attacks on bases housing US forces in Iraq and Syria after a lull of several months, following a strike on a base in Jordan in late January that killed three American soldiers and prompted a series of retaliatory US strikes.

Between October and January, an umbrella group calling itself the Islamic Resistance in Iraq had regularly claimed attacks that it said were in retaliation for Washington’s support of Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza and were aimed at pushing US troops out of the region.

Bodies returned to Gaza

A Palestinian official says Israel has returned more than 80 bodies to the Gaza Strip, which has been ravaged by war since October.

The identities of the deceased and the cause of death were not immediately known.

Over the course of its nearly 10-month offensive in Gaza, the military has exhumed remains as it searches for the bodies of hostages taken in Hamas’s October 7 attack, which ignited the war.

Weam Fares, a spokesperson for the Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, said 84 bodies were handed over at the Kerem Shalom crossing on Monday and were taken directly for burial.

Associated Press reporters saw the bodies being brought to a cemetery in a container truck belonging to a private company.

They were buried in a mass grave.

In Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, militants killed 1,200 people and abducted some 250 others.

In Israel’s ensuing invasion of Gaza, 39,600 people have been killed, according to Gaza Health officials.

Israel accused of torturing prisoners

A leading Israeli human rights group accused Israeli authorities of abusing and torturing Palestinian detainees in a report issued on Monday, as scrutiny of Israel’s treatment of Palestinian prisoners during the Israel-Hamas war mounts.

The group, B’Tselem, said it conducted interviews with 55 Palestinian inmates from Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem after their release.

It said they described a list of abuses at the hands of Israeli prison guards including violence, sexual assault, starvation and sleep deprivation.

Israel’s prison service did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the report.

The military denies abuse at the facilities under its auspices and says detainees are granted basic rights.

B’Tselem’s findings come a week after the United Nations human rights office issued its own report, which detailed similar findings about the treatment of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli-run prisons since the outbreak of the war.

Biden and Harris briefed by national security team

The White House said on Monday local time that President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris were briefed by their national security team on US military efforts to support Israel and US forces in case of another attack by Iran and its proxies.

The briefing included a discussion of diplomatic efforts to reduce regional tensions and finalise a possible agreement for a ceasefire and hostage release.

They also received details about the attack on al-Asad air base.

Mr Biden also spoke to Jordanian King Abdullah II about the possibility of an “immediate” ceasefire and hostage release deal involving Israel and the Palestinians in order to “de-escalate regional tensions,” the White House said in a statement.

It came as leaders in Egypt and Türkiye said they were exhausting all avenues possible to prevent Israel’s war in Gaza from becoming a wider regional conflict.

The United States has been urging other countries through diplomatic channels to tell Iran that escalation in the Middle East is not in its interest, a State Department spokesperson said, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken describing a “critical moment” for the region.

Iran and Russia look to expand relations

The pleas for diplomacy came as Iran signalled a tightening of relations with Russia.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian told Sergei Shoigu, the secretary of Russia’s security council, that Tehran was determined to expand relations with its “strategic partner Russia”, Iranian state media reported.

Mr Shoigu met with Mr Pezeshkian and top security officials.

“Russia is among the countries that have stood by the Iranian nation during difficult times,” Mr Pezeshkian told Mr Shoigu in a meeting, Iranian state media reported.

The president said shared positions between Iran and Russia “in promoting a multipolar world will certainly lead to greater global security and peace”.

Russia has condemned the killing of Haniyeh in Iran last week and called on all parties to refrain from steps that could tip the Middle East into a wider regional war.

In further comments reported during the meeting with Mr Shoigu, Mr Pezeshkian said Israel’s “criminal actions” in Gaza and the assassination of Haniyeh “are clear examples of the violation of all international laws and regulations”.

Hezbollah attack wounds Israeli troops

Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said it launched a drone attack early on Monday on northern Israel that the Israeli military said wounded two Israeli troops.

The Iranian-backed Hezbollah said it targeted a military base in northern Israel in response to “attacks and assassinations” by Israel in several villages in southern Lebanon.

The attack did not appear to be the more intense retaliation expected from Iran and its allied militias.

Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged near-daily strikes for the past 10 months during the war in Gaza.

But last week’s assassinations of Haniyeh in Iran’s capital and Shukr in Beirut sent regional tensions soaring.

The head of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard threatened Israel on Monday over the assassination of Haniyeh, warning that Israel was “digging its own grave” with its actions against Hamas.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was intended to prolong the conflict in Gaza and would complicate talks on resolving the crisis.

“There is no doubt that the purpose of Mr Haniyeh’s assassination is to prolong the war and expand its scope,” Russia’s RIA state news agency cited Mr Abbas as saying.

“It will have a negative impact on the ongoing negotiations to end the aggression and withdraw Israeli troops from Gaza.”