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India has ramped up aviation operations to bring back stranded travellers from West Asia as the escalating regional war continues to disrupt airspace across the Gulf and surrounding regions. According to an update issued by the Ministry of Civil Aviation , Indian carriers are planning around 50 flights on March 9 from airports across the Gulf to assist passengers attempting to return home amid the rapidly evolving security situation. Ambassador Deepak Mittal at the passport and consular service centre at Al Reem. File Photo: MEA The ministry said it was closely monitoring the airspace environment across West Asia and working with airlines to ensure passenger safety while maintaining orderly flight operations. Passenger movement data from March 7 shows that 51 inbound flights operated by Indian carriers arrived in India carrying 8,175 passengers from the region. Airlines including Air India, Air India Express, IndiGo, SpiceJet and Akasa Air have been operating services from key Gulf hu...

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has said his government considers Hezbollah’s military and security activities illegal and remains open to negotiations aimed at ending the war, even as Israeli strikes continue across Lebanon and hundreds of thousands of civilians have been displaced. In remarks published from an interview with the French-language newspaper L’Orient-Le Jour , Salam said Lebanon’s cabinet had formally declared that Hezbollah’s armed operations were unlawful and reaffirmed the state’s long-term objective of placing all weapons under government control. File Photo Via Nawaf Salam “Our position is clear and we will not change our course,” Salam said, and noted that the cabinet, with the participation of the president and the backing of a majority of ministers, had concluded that Hezbollah’s military activities were illegal and must cease. The Lebanese leader said the government was prepared to resume negotiations under an internationally supervised framework that wou...

India told Parliament on Monday that dialogue and diplomacy remain the only viable path to de-escalate the widening war in West Asia, with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar warning that the conflict poses serious risks to global energy flows , shipping routes and the safety of millions of Indians living in the Gulf region. Addressing both the hoses of the Parliament separately amid loud protests from opposition benches, Jaishankar said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was closely monitoring developments while multiple ministries were coordinating responses to the fast-evolving security situation in the Middle East. Image Source: ANI Screengrab of Sansad TV on X “Our government had issued a statement expressing deep concern and urging all sides to exercise restraint,” Jaishankar said . “We continue to believe that dialogue and diplomacy should be pursued to de-escalate the tensions.” The minister said stability in West Asia remained vital for India’s economic interests, given th...

✍️ Written by Saket Suman Nine days into the expanding war involving Iran, Israel, United States and Western allies, the conflict is no longer confined to military targets. Civilian deaths, migrant worker casualties, diplomatic scrambling and tightening information controls inside Iran are together revealing how rapidly the war is widening across the region. The United States confirmed that a seventh American service member has died during Operation Epic Fury, after succumbing to injuries sustained during Iran’s initial wave of attacks across the Middle East. According to United States Central Command, the soldier had been critically wounded during an attack on American troops stationed in Saudi Arabia on March 1, underscoring the continuing risk to US forces deployed across Gulf bases. Image Via: United States Central Command The war has also begun claiming foreign civilian lives in the Gulf. A projectile that struck a residential area in Al...

Lebanon’s government has moved to coordinate relief operations and stabilise essential supplies as the regional conflict continues to place pressure on the country’s economy and humanitarian infrastructure. Image Via: grandserail Prime Minister Nawaf Salam held a series of meetings at the Grand Serail in Beirut with senior officials and private sector representatives to address the emerging challenges created by the escalating war across the region. In one meeting, Salam met Hashem Haidar, head of Lebanon’s South Council, and the chief of the country’s Disaster Management Unit at the Saraya Zahi Shaheen, alongside Finance Minister Yassin Jaber and Social Affairs Minister Hanin Al-Sayed, to coordinate relief and emergency response efforts. The discussions focused on strengthening cooperation between government agencies responsible for disaster response and humanitarian assistance as the security situation along Lebanon’s southern front remains volatile. Separately, the prime mini...

Britain has confirmed that its forces intercepted a one-way attack drone launched from Iran toward Iraq, marking another sign of the United Kingdom’s growing military involvement in the escalating West Asia conflict. Image Via the British Royal Air Force In a statement issued on March 8, the UK Ministry of Defence said British forces “successfully engaged” the drone during defensive air operations conducted overnight in the region. The interception took place as Royal Air Force Typhoon fighters and F-35 jets continued defensive patrols across the region to monitor and respond to aerial threats linked to the widening confrontation between Iran, Israel and their allies. British officials did not specify the exact location of the interception but said the drone had been fired from Iranian territory toward Iraq. The UK has already deployed additional air assets to support allied operations aimed at countering missile and drone threats emerging from the conflict. According to the Ministry...

Israel said it carried out more than 100 airstrikes across Lebanon within the past 24 hours , targeting Hezbollah infrastructure, weapons depots and military sites as the conflict on Israel’s northern front intensifies. In a statement by Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee on Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said its strikes included an attack on a compound belonging to Hezbollah’s Radwan Force in Beirut’s southern Dahiya district , a stronghold of the Iran-backed group. Image Via: Avichay Adraee According to the IDF, the compound served as a headquarters and training facility where Radwan Force members were allegedly preparing attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians. Israeli forces also struck what they described as warehouses containing combat equipment and dozens of additional military sites linked to Hezbollah across Lebanon. #عاجل 🔸أكثر من 100 غارة نُفِّذت خلال الساعات الأربع والعشرين الماضية في أنحاء لبنان: جيش الدفاع هاجم مجمّعًا لوحدة قوة الرضوان في...

The Israeli military said it killed a Hezbollah militant cell and uncovered a cache of weapons during operations in southern Lebanon as tensions along the Israel–Lebanon border continue amid the wider West Asia conflict. In a statement by the Israeli Defense Forces’ Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee on Sunday, the IDF said troops from the 769th Brigade of the 91st Division detected a Hezbollah militant cell operating in the area during the past week. Image Via: IDF/Avichay Adraee According to the statement, an Israeli Air Force aircraft targeted the group shortly after it was identified , and killed its members. #عاجل القضاء على خلية إرهابية والعثور على مخزون من الوسائل القتالية في جنوب لبنان 🔸خلال الأسبوع الماضي وفي إطار خطة الدفاع الأمامي في منطقة جنوب لبنان رصدت قوات اللواء 769 التابعة للفرقة 91 خليةً من عناصر حزب الله الإرهابي حيث قامت طائرة تابعة لسلاح الجو باستهداف الخلية… pic.twitter.com/y3QrNAKx3F — افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) March 8, 2026 Israeli forces la...

French President Emmanuel Macron has launched a flurry of emergency diplomatic calls with leaders across West Asia and the Caucasus as the Iran-centered conflict threatens to widen across the region. In a series of statements posted Sunday, Macron said he had spoken with the Emir of Kuwait, Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, and Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani. Aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle; Via: FrenchEmbassyZA Macron said he also spoke with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian , pressing Tehran to halt its military strikes across the region and ensure the security of global shipping lanes. Macron said he raised France’s “absolute priority” of securing the safety and return of French nationals Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, currently within the French Embassy compound, while urging Iran to immediately end attacks on regional countries and restore freedom of navigation by end...