04/04/2026 – 16:38 GMT+2
The Israeli military have relaunched evacuation orders from the southern Lebanese city of Tyre, warning of more strikes, claiming they are targeting Hezbollah. Over 1.2 million people in Lebanon have been displaced since the beginning of the war.
One of the two US pilots whose fighter jet was shot down by Iran in separate incidents is still missing, the other one was rescued by US forces as the war enters its sixth week. Meanwhile, Lebanon’s southern city of Tyre received an Israeli evacuation order warning of more strikes to come on the city.
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It is a first in the war that Israel and the US launched on Iran, that Tehran shot down two US warplanes, leading to a US military search and rescue mission. In parallel, an Iranian TV station called on its citizens to turn the pilot in.
Iran’s Fars news agency said the Iranian army had also launched a search for the pilot.
“Military forces have launched a search operation to find the American fighter pilot who was hit earlier today,” Fars said.
In a separate incident, a US A-10 attack aircraft crashed in the Persian Gulf after being struck by Iranian defence forces, according to state media. However, a US official speaking on condition of anonymity said that they did not know whether the plane was shot down or crashed.
Saturday strikes
Lebanon was targeted with Israeli strikes on Saturday, as well as overnight strikes on its capital, Beirut. The southern city of Tyre was struck late Friday night and again on Saturday morning. The Israeli military have relaunched evacuation orders from the city, warning of more strikes, claiming they are targeting Hezbollah. Over 1.2 million people in Lebanon have been displaced since the beginning of the war.
In Tehran, a psychiatric hospital was damaged by recent Israeli-US strikes in the area where it is located. A Saturday strike on the Bushehr nuclear site left one man killed, Iranian state media reported, marking the fourth time the facility has been struck.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned on social media that radioactive fallout from continued attacks on the Bushehr nuclear power plant “will end life” in regional capitals, not Tehran. For now, the IAEA has said that “no increase in radiation levels was reported” following the strike, in a social media post.
Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates said its air defence systems engaged 56 drones and 23 ballistic missiles from Iran.
Bahrain, which hosts the US Navy’s 5th Fleet, also reported eight drone attacks on its country in the past 24 hours, its Defence Ministry wrote in a social media post on Saturday.
Iranian missile strikes were also recorded in multiple locations in Israel. One man was left injured with glass shrapnel wounds after a missile strike on the centre of the Israeli city of Bnei Brak. Another hit was recorded in the city of Ramat Gan in the Tel Aviv district.
Iran seeks ‘conclusive and lasting’ end to the war
On the diplomatic side, mediators from Turkey, Egypt and Pakistan are working to restart negotiations between the US and Iran, regional officials said.
Hoping to bring both sides to meet in Pakistan and negotiate an end to the war as well as a reopening to the straight of Hormuz, they said.
On Saturday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said his government has “never refused to go to Islamabad,” and that they are seeking a “conclusive and lasting” end to the conflict.
