US Embassy in Saudi Arabia hit with Iranian drones as American and Israeli attacks on Iran escalate

Israeli soldiers are ‘operating in southern Lebanon,’ military says 1 of 9 | Strikes across Iran’s capital Tehran on Monday hit several areas of the city. Israel and the United States are pounding Iran as the war is expanding to several fronts. (AP video by Mohsen Ganji) 2 of 9 | Three American fighter jets were mistakenly downed by friendly Kuwaiti fire Monday during an Iranian air assault, the U.S. military said. 3 of 9 | Police dispersed dozens of Iraqis protesting in support of Iran near Baghdad’s Green Zone on Monday night. (AP video: Ali Jabar) 4 of 9 | Israel’s military on Monday said it had carried out a “targeted attack” on senior members of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in Beirut and southern Lebanon. The airstrike in the Lebanese capital heavily damaged a building, with reports suggesting it occurred near the old compound of the Iranian embassy in Beir Hassan neighborhood. (AP Video: Fadi Tawil) 5 of 9 | Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla) 6 of 9 | Smoke engulfs a street after a strike in Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohsen Ganji) 7 of 9 | This image provided by U.S. Central Command shows a F-35C Lightning II preparing for launch on the flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) in support of Operation Epic Fury on Monday, March 2, 2026. (U.S. Navy via AP) 8 of 9 | A worker instals a billboard on an overpass containing a portrait of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed during the ongoing joint U.S.-Israeli military campaign, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi) 9 of 9 | Mourners take cover while air-raid sirens warn of incoming missiles launched by Iran toward Israel during the funeral of Sarah Elimelech and her daughter Ronit who were killed in an Iranian missile attack, in Beit Shemesh, Israel, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg) 1 of 9 Strikes across Iran’s capital Tehran on Monday hit several areas of the city. Israel and the United States are pounding Iran as the war is expanding to several fronts. (AP video by Mohsen Ganji) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. 2 of 9 Three American fighter jets were mistakenly downed by friendly Kuwaiti fire Monday during an Iranian air assault, the U.S. military said. Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. 3 of 9 Police dispersed dozens of Iraqis protesting in support of Iran near Baghdad’s Green Zone on Monday night. (AP video: Ali Jabar) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. 4 of 9 Israel’s military on Monday said it had carried out a “targeted attack” on senior members of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in Beirut and southern Lebanon. The airstrike in the Lebanese capital heavily damaged a building, with reports suggesting it occurred near the old compound of the Iranian embassy in Beir Hassan neighborhood. (AP Video: Fadi Tawil) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. 5 of 9 Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. 6 of 9 Smoke engulfs a street after a strike in Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohsen Ganji) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. 7 of 9 This image provided by U.S. Central Command shows a F-35C Lightning II preparing for launch on the flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) in support of Operation Epic Fury on Monday, March 2, 2026. (U.S. Navy via AP) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. 8 of 9 A worker instals a billboard on an overpass containing a portrait of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed during the ongoing joint U.S.-Israeli military campaign, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. 9 of 9 Mourners take cover while air-raid sirens warn of incoming missiles launched by Iran toward Israel during the funeral of Sarah Elimelech and her daughter Ronit who were killed in an Iranian missile attack, in Beit Shemesh, Israel, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Updated [hour]:[minute] [AMPM] [timezone], [monthFull] [day], [year] DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Israeli military said soldiers are “operating in southern Lebanon” as it continues strikes against Hezbollah.In a statement, it said the troops are positioned at several points near the border in what it described as a “forward defense posture” as it battles Hezbollah militants.It said the deployment is part of a broader effort to increase security for residents in northern Israel near the border with Lebanon. It has also beefed up troops and air defenses in the area.The army said there are no plans to evacuate Israeli residents of border areas.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran struck the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia’s capital with a drone early Tuesday as it kept hitting targets around the region, while the United States and Israel pounded Iran with airstrikes in what U.S. President Donald Trump suggested was just the start of a relentless campaign that could last more than a month. The attack from two drones on the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh caused a “limited fire” and minor damage, according to Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry, and the embassy urged Americans to avoid the compound. It followed an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait, which announced Tuesday it had been closed until further notice. The U.S. State Department also ordered the evacuation of non-emergency personnel and family in Kuwait, as well as Bahrain, Iraq, Qatar and Jordan as a precaution. Across Iran’s capital, explosions rang out throughout the night into the early morning, with witnesses describing hearing aircraft overhead. It was not immediately clear what had been hit. And in Lebanon, Israel launched more strikes on Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militia group, with explosions heard and smoke seen in a southern suburb of Beirut. The expansion of Iranian retaliation across the Gulf and the intensity of the Israeli and American attacks, the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the lack of any apparent exit plan portend a possibly prolonged conflict with far-reaching consequences. Many countries deemed safe havens in the Mideast have been hit by Iran in retaliation for the U.S. and Israeli strikes, with recent targets including two Amazon data centers in the United Arab Emirates and a drone impact near another in Bahrain that caused damage, the company said Tuesday. Iran has also hit energy facilities in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and attacked several ships Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil traded passes, sending global oil and natural gas prices soaring.“The Strait of Hormuz is closed,” declared Iranian Brig. Gen. Ebrahim Jabbari, an adviser to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, threatening to set fire to any ships attempting to transit. “Don’t come to this region.”The U.S. State Department urged U.S. citizens to leave more than a dozen Middle Eastern countries due to safety risks, as have many other countries, though with much of the airspace closed many remain stranded. Trump said operations are likely to last four to five weeks but that he was prepared “to go far longer than that.” He later added on social media that the U.S. had a “virtually unlimited supply” of munitions and pre-positioned “high grade weaponry.”“Wars can be fought ‘forever,’ and very successfully, using just these supplies,” he wrote.Hundreds dead in Iran and dozens in Lebanon along with 11 in IsraelThe Iranian Red Crescent Society said the U.S.-Israeli operation has killed at least 555 people. In Israel, where several locations were hit by Iranian missiles, 11 people were killed. Israel’s retaliatory strikes against Hezbollah killed 52 people in Lebanon.“Military escalation would force more families from their homes and hit civilians hard,” said Amy Pope, director general of the International Organization on Migration as she called Tuesday for the international community to press for de-escalation. “Millions are already displaced in the region,” she said. The U.S. military has confirmed six deaths of American service members. All six were Army soldiers in a logistics unit in Kuwait, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. Three people were killed in the United Arab Emirates, and one each in Kuwait and Bahrain.The chaos of the conflict became apparent when the U.S. military said Kuwait had “mistakenly shot down” three American fighter jets while Iran was attacking it with aircraft, ballistic missiles and drones. U.S. Central Command said all six pilots ejected safely. Israel and U.S. target nuclear facilities and missile infrastructureIranian state TV said strikes caused two explosions early Tuesday at a broadcasting facility in Tehran, but said no one was injured. Reza Najafi, Iran’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, told reporters that airstrikes targeted the Natanz nuclear enrichment site on Sunday.“Their justification that Iran wants to develop nuclear weapons is simply a big lie,” he said.Israel and the U.S. have not acknowledged strikes at the site, which the U.S. bombed in the 12-day war between Iran and Israel in June. Israel has said it is targeting the “leadership and nuclear infrastructure.”Trump said the military campaign’s objectives are to destroy Iran’s missile capabilities, wipe out its navy, prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon and ensure that it cannot continue to support allied groups like Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which fired missiles at Israel on Monday.Iran has said it has not enriched uranium since June, though it has maintained its right to do so and says its nuclear program is peaceful.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu maintained, however, that Iran was rebuilding “new sites, new places” underground for making atomic bombs in an interview broadcast late Monday on Fox News Channel’s Hannity.“We had to take the action now and we did,” said Netanyahu, who offered no evidence to support his claim.Satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press showed limited activity at two nuclear sites in Iran before the war. Analysts said Tehran was likely assessing damage from the 2025 U.S. strikes and possibly salvaging what remained.Attacks on Iran have drawn in proxy forces from around regionThe conflict has also spread to Lebanon, where the Iranian-supported militant group Hezbollah fired missiles at Israel on Monday, prompting Israel to retaliate. At least 52 people have been killed and 154 wounded so far, according to Lebanese authorities. Israel hit Beirut with more airstrikes early Tuesday morning, saying it was targeting “Hezbollah command centers and weapons storage facilities.”Hezbollah also said it launched drones targeting an Israeli air base. The Israeli military said it downed two drones.An Iranian-linked militant in Iraq has also claimed strikes on U.S. military facilities there. ___Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, Hallie Golden in Seattle, Washington and Giovanna Dell’Orto in Miami contributed to this report. Rising reported from Bangkok and Magdy from Cairo. Gambrell is the news director for the Gulf and Iran for The Associated Press. He has reported from each of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Iran and other locations across the world since joining the AP in 2006. Rising covers regional Asia-Pacific stories for The Associated Press. He has worked around the world, including covering the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Ukraine, and was based for nearly 20 years in Berlin before moving to Bangkok. Magdy is a Middle East reporter for The Associated Press, based in Cairo. He focuses on conflict, migration and human rights abuses.