Mısır Liman Patlaması ve Irak'taki Saldırılar Savaşı Yeni Kıyılara Taşıdı

Egypt port blast, Iraq strikes take war to new shores

BAGHDAD: People carrying flags of Iraq and the Popular Mobilisation Forces group take part in the funeral procession of those killed in US and Saudi air strikes, with coffins draped in the Iranian flag.—Reuters • Explosions hit natural gas loading port in Egypt’s Damietta • US-owned floating storage tanker reportedly struck by drone • Dar, Egyptian FM call for restraint, dialogue, diplomacy • Riyadh publicly joins US strikes on paramilitary groups in Iraq • Trump threatens severe military action against Iran • Houthis considering fees on ships sailing through southern Red Sea • Pezeshkian urges citizens to resist enemy pressure DUBAI: The Middle East war spread across new fronts on Wednesday as explosions hit a natural gas loading port in Egypt and a US-owned floating storage tanker was reportedly struck by a drone, while the United States and Saudi Arabia carried out joint strikes on Iran-backed paramilitary groups in Iraq in retaliation for attacks on US troops and Saudi oil targets. The drone hit a vessel in the Egyptian port of Damietta, causing a fire that spread to another vessel, three trading sources familiar with the incident said. The crew were evacuated and the fire had been brought under control, British maritime security company Ambrey said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the incident. Earlier on Wednesday, the United States and Saudi Arabia struck Iran-backed paramilitary groups in Iraq, while US President Donald Trump threatened severe military action against Iran for firing on US troops, just days after he had halted air strikes. “We’ll be hitting them hard,” Fox News quoted Trump as saying. Iran confirmed overnight that it had fired on US bases in Jordan and at ships in the Strait of Hormuz, and also spurned an Omani proposal to jointly manage the strait. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian called for Iranians to “fight the enemy and stand firm against them so that we do not submit to injustice and oppression”, Al Jazeera reported. “In the same way, we cannot oppress our citizens or commit injustice against them,” IRNA quoted him as saying. Pezeshkian added that Iran had proven it was a “unique model of resistance”. Meanwhile, Yemen’s Houthi group is considering imposing fees on commercial ships sailing through the southern Red Sea, a week after declaring a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, regional sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. No timeframe was given at this stage for implementation, they added. Oil prices shot up Wednesday in one of the sharpest spikes of the five-month war. Brent crude futures rose more than seven per cent to push the benchmark above $90 a barrel, reversing much of a plunge earlier this week. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar stressed “restraint, dialogue, and diplomacy” to prevent further escalation in a telephonic conversation with his Egyptian counterpart, the Foreign Office said. In a statement shared on X, the Foreign Office said Dar received a telephone call from Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty. “The two foreign ministers expressed grave concern over the deteriorating situation in Palestine, condemning the continued Israeli military actions in Gaza and the Occupied West Bank, escalating settler violence, and repeated violations at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem,” the Foreign Office said. It said the two ministers underscored the urgent need for an immediate end to all hostilities, unhindered humanitarian assistance and full respect for international law. US-Saudi attacks The joint US-Saudi attacks also mark the first time Riyadh has publicly joined strikes alongside Washington. That could widen the conflict by drawing Saudi Arabia into combat against proxies of Iran on a new front. Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces, powerful Iran-backed paramilitary groups incorporated into the Iraqi security forces, said at least 20 members were killed and 32 wounded in US-Saudi strikes targeting several bases across Iraq. Iraqi men shouted “Death to America!” as they carried the bodies of slain fighters in body bags out of a hospital in Mosul in northern Iraq, footage from Iraq’s Al-Ahad television showed. Washington and Riyadh said they struck the Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq in retaliation for drone attacks on Saudi oil targets launched from Iraq. It was the first major US military action in the Middle East since last Friday, when Trump abruptly suspended an intensive bombing campaign after 13 days, having been advised by commanders that the strategy had run its course. Though Iran denies its forces have directed strikes from Iraqi territory, Iranian newspaper Hamshahri reported that four Iranian Revolutionary Guards advisers had been killed in the strikes on Iraq. Iraq’s dangerous rift The strikes on Iraq expose a dangerous rift in that volatile country. The government is one of the few in the world to balance close military and diplomatic ties with both Tehran and Washington, but those divided loyalties are a constant source of tension and frequent domestic unrest. The office of Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, who took power just two months ago, urged the parties involved to avoid escalation and said he wanted to keep the country out of regional conflicts. The Iraqi presidency denounced the strikes on the paramilitaries as “an unacceptable attack and a flagrant violation of Iraq’s sovereignty”, while also calling for a halt to attacks by armed groups against Iraq’s neighbours. Trump told Fox that the United States had coordinated with the Iraqi government in launching the attacks. An Iraqi government spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump’s assertion that Baghdad had cooperated. Washington has long called on the Baghdad government to crack down on Iran-backed paramilitaries, but efforts to do so in the past have provoked unrest. In a clear challenge to Zaidi’s authority, one of the main Iran-backed Iraqi groups, Kataib Hezbollah, said it would give the government until next Thursday to prove it could defend Iraq’s sovereignty. US says it averted Iranian attack Hours before launching the joint attacks with Saudi Arabia on Iraq, the US military said its air defences had averted a surprise Iranian attack on US troops in the region. Jordan’s military said it had shot down five Iranian missiles. US bases in Jordan have lately become primary Iranian targets, where three US service members were killed this month in the worst US losses since March. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had fired several ballistic missiles at US military installations in Jordan and had struck three tankers that were attempting to transit through the Strait of Hormuz along an unauthorised route. Fighting resumed this month after a US-Iran interim deal reached in June collapsed over the fate of the strait, the world’s most important energy shipping route, which Iran says it controls and where it aims to collect fees. Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2026