Everything we know on day 6 of the Middle East war

CNN

By Jessie Yeung, Billy Stockwell, CNN

(CNN) — Now in its sixth day, the latest Middle East conflict continues to widen – with the US sinking an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka and Iran being accused of attacking Azerbaijan in the first strikes on the country since the beginning of the conflict, a claim Iran denies.

Here’s what to know.

What are the main headlines?

• Fresh strikes: Explosions rocked the Iranian capital Tehran again this morning, according to state media. Overnight, Israel launched another wave of attacks against Iran, as well as striking Hezbollah targets in Beirut. Iran also launched three waves of missiles towards Israel overnight, according to the Israeli military.
• First attack on Azerbaijan: Drone attacks have injured two people and damaged the terminal building of an airport near the Iran-Azerbaijan border, Azerbaijani authorities said, the first strikes on the country since the beginning of the conflict. Iran’s armed forces denied launching drones at Azerbaijan and suggested the incident may have been a false-flag operation by Israel.
• Senate vote: Republicans rejected a resolution Wednesday that would have reined in US President Donald Trump’s war powers. The Senate voted 47 to 53 to put down the measure. The House is expected to take a vote on the same issue on Thursday. Top US officials warned on Wednesday the US will start striking deeper into Iran and the operation is still in its early days.
• Warship torpedoed: Iran’s foreign minister has decried the deadly US torpedo attack on an Iranian warship as an “atrocity,” which he warned the US will come to regret. More than 80 people were killed, and a number remaining missing, after the IRIS Dena sank off the coast of Sri Lanka on Wednesday.
• Evacuations underway: The first US evacuation flight left the Middle East on Wednesday, after the Trump administration faced backlash for not having an evacuation plan ready. More than 17,500 Americans have returned to the US from the Middle East since February 28, the State Department said late Wednesday.

What’s happening in Iran and Lebanon?

• Death tolls: More than 1,100 civilians have been killed in Iran since Saturday, according to a US-based human rights group. Others have reported a higher figure, such as state-affiliated Islamic Republic News Agency, which said at least 1,230 people had been killed. And at least 77 people have been killed by Israeli bombardment in Lebanon, according to the country’s health ministry – including three paramedics.
• Lebanon attacks: As well as new strikes in Tehran, Israel’s overnight attack hit several command centers in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, belonging to Hezbollah, according to the Israel Defense Forces. Later Thursday, the Israeli military issued what it described as an urgent evacuation warning for entire neighborhoods in Beirut’s southern suburbs, a significant expansion from previous orders that were typically limited to specific buildings.
• Miserable conditions: Many residents in southern Lebanon have embarked on grueling journeys after Israel ordered them to evacuate; some displaced families have been forced to sleep on the streets at night. Many Tehran residents have fled to the countryside, while those who remain shelter at home, living in fear of constant bombardment.
• Next supreme leader: Iran’s top clerics are still working to choose a successor to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed by the US-Israel strikes on Saturday. Israel has warned that any new leader would be “an unequivocal target for elimination.”
• School bombing: The White House didn’t rule out that the US military had carried out a strike on a girls’ elementary school in Iran during the initial joint US-Israeli strikes, which killed at least 168 children, according to Iranian state media.

What’s happening in the rest of region?

• Iran strikes back: Alongside the fresh barrage of missiles fired toward Israel overnight, Iran continues to fire at neighboring Gulf states, which are armed with American weapons and air defenses, although the US says the pace of Iran’s aerial assaults have slowed. Iran launched a drone attack on an Amazon data center in Bahrain, a state-affiliated news agency reported. Iranian drones have also targeted two Amazon facilities in the United Arab Emirates.
• Deaths climb around the region: While the largest death tolls are in Iran and Lebanon, more than two dozen people have been killed elsewhere – by Iranian strikes in Israel and Gulf nations, as well as by US-Israeli airstrikes in Iraq.
• Iran targets separatist groups: Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence says it targeted “separatist terrorist groups (that) intended to enter the country’s western borders” with the support of the United States. The ministry statement, reported by the country’s state media, is believed to have been referring to attacks by Iranian forces on Iraq-based Kurdish groups. It comes after sources told CNN that the CIA is working to arm Kurdish forces, with the aim of fomenting a popular uprising in Iran.
• US soldiers identified: On Wednesday night, the Pentagon publicly identified the two remaining service members killed in a drone attack in Kuwait on Sunday. The other four soldiers killed were previously identified on Tuesday.
• International response: France said it had permitted US non-combat aircraft to use an airbase on the French mainland with the “complete guarantee” that these aircraft “do not participate in any way in US operations in Iran,” only in defense of regional partners. Meanwhile, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he “can never categorically rule out participation” in the US-Israeli war with Iran after previously saying Canada would not take part.
• Turkish interception: Iran’s military leaders claim they did not fire any missiles toward Turkey, state media reported, after NATO air defenses intercepted what Turkey said was a missile launched from Iran on Wednesday. This is believed to be the first time NATO forces have intercepted an Iranian missile traveling towards a member country since this conflict began.
• Diplomatic departures: The US authorized non-emergency staff and their families to depart several Middle Eastern countries on Wednesday, and Qatar authorities are evacuating residents living near the US Embassy, after Iranian strikes this week targeted US facilities across the region.
• Travel disruptions: Israel began reopening its main international airport for incoming flights, with the first of two return flights landing on Thursday. Some flights have departed major Middle Eastern hubs, including Dubai and Jeddah, but many travelers are still scrambling to find ways out of the region.
• Markets: Asian stocks bounced back Thursday after steep falls the previous day. European stock indexes were slightly higher in early trade, while US futures were broadly flat.

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CNN’s Leila Gharagozlou, Eugenia Yosef, Laura Sharman, Jack Guy, Lauren Kent, Todd Symons and Joseph Ataman contributed to this report.