Israel says it has killed Iran's intelligence minister in overnight strike

Israel says Iran's intelligence minister Esmail Khatib has been killed in an overnight strike - read more about him.

It comes after Iran's top security official Ali Larijani was also killed yesterday. Iran has not yet commented on Khatib.

Meanwhile, Israel has launched a series of strikes on Lebanon's capital Beirut, as it continues its offensive against Hezbollah.

One blast flattened a building in the city centre - this isn't the so-called Hezbollah heartland of southern Beirut, but an area surrounded by businesses and hotels, writes the BBC's Wyre Davies from the scene.

Retaliatory strikes by Iran and its allied militia groups continue across the Middle East - in Israel, two people are killed in Tel Aviv, with blasts and drone interceptions reported in Dubai, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

Earlier, the US military said it used bunker-busting "deep penetrator" bombs to hit Iranian missile sites along the Strait of Hormuz; the vital waterway for transporting oil has been effectively blocked by Iran since the war began.

In Iran, residents live in constant dread - one woman says leaving home "is like gambling with my life".

Who is Esmail Khatib?

Esmail Khatib was appointed as Iran’s intelligence minister by the late former president, Ebrahim Raisi, back in 2021.

He studied Islamic jurisprudence under multiple high-ranking clerics, including Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

He has held senior posts in the ministry of intelligence and the Office of the Supreme Leader.

He was sanctioned by the US Treasury for his role as head of Iran's Ministry of Intelligence “for engaging in cyber-enabled activities against the United States and its allies” in 2022.

Khatib is reported to have joined the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in 1980, shortly after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

IDF says it will attack river crossings in southern Lebanon

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) says it will attack crossings on the Litani River in southern Lebanon this afternoon.

In a statement on X, IDF spokesperson Avichai Adraee says this is due to "Hezbollah's activities and the transfer of terrorist elements into southern Lebanon under the protection of the civilian population".

He says the military will attack the crossings "to prevent the transfer of reinforcements and weapons" and ordered residents to "continue moving to the area north of the Zahrani River and refrain from any movement southward that could endanger your lives.

Earlier, the IDF renewed its evacuation order for residents south of the Zahrani River, about 40km from the border.