There appears to be no deescalation in sight as the Middle East crisis enters its fifth week with major infrastructure hit across the Gulf region, including an industrial site in Israel and Yemen’s Houthis vowing to continue attacks on Israel.

This is as the Israeli military confirmed a soldier has died in southern Lebanon, with three others injured. The Jewish nation has also been accused of killing three journalists in an Israeli air strike, their employers said. However, Israel’s military accused one of them – a reporter from Hezbollah’s Al Manar TV channel – of being an operative for the militant group.

Commenting on the tragic incident Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the deaths of three journalists in Lebanon was “not only a deep loss for the media community in the region and the world, but also a serious wake-up call for the global conscience”. In a post on social media, Araghchi called the strikes “clearly a targeted assassination” and an attempt to “silence the voices of truth-tellers”.

The three journalists were buried yesterday. On Saturday Emirates Global Aluminium said its major plant in Abu Dhabi had been significantly damaged in a missile and drone attack. The IRGC has confirmed it carried out missile and drone attacks on aluminium facilities in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. In a statement carried by Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB overnight yesterday, the IRGC claimed the sites targeted on Saturday were linked to the United States military.

Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) said in a statement that two employees were injured in the attack on its facility, while the UAE’s Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) said one of its sites in Abu Dhabi suffered significant damage, and six people were injured. The strikes were retaliation for a US-Israeli attack on Iranian industrial infrastructure launched from military bases hosting US forces in the Gulf states, the IRGC said.

“The significance of this is that of the global aluminium supply, estimates are that between 4 to 9 per cent comes from this region … this certainly threatens global supply,” said Al Jazeera’s Zein Basravi, reporting from Dubai. Also on Saturday Yemen’s Houthi rebels launched missile strikes towards Israel, with the Iran-backed group saying there will be more attacks in the coming days.

However, Yemen’s internationally recognised government has condemned what it calls Iran’s “frequent attempts to drag” the country into the conflict It is, however, feared that if the Houthis target shipping coming through the Bab alMandab strait at the southern end of the Red Sea, it would be another big blow to the global economy, which is already reeling from the effects the closure of the Strait of Hormuz is having on oil prices.

Last week transport drivers in the Philippines protested the effect fuel scarcity was having on their livelihoods while the Egyptian government has told Shops, restaurants and cafes to close early as part of a raft of temporary measures to combat soaring energy prices caused by the Iran war.

Meanwhile, the US has said about 3,500 personnel have arrived in the region with the warship USS Tripoli. Qatari television network Al Araby says its TV office in Tehran has been damaged by a missile. In a post on X, the network shared a video that appears to show debris and shattered glass.

It is not clear who launched the missile. Israel has not commented. And in another development, the IRGC has threatened to strike American and Israeli universities located in the Gulf States after US-Israeli strikes hit a number of schools in the country including the famous Iran University of Science and Technology. In a statement yesterday the IRGC warned staff and students of such institutions to stay away as they have become legitimate targets for their strikes. The Red Crescent has said more than 600 Iranian educational facilities have been destroyed since the start of the conflict on February 28.

Elsewhere, a worker in Oman was injured in a drone attack on Saturday at the Gulf country’s Salalah port, while Danish container shipping group Maersk said later that it temporarily halted its operations at the port following the assault. Oman’s Foreign Ministry yesterday condemned the attacks on its territory, adding that no party had claimed responsibility. Saudi Arabia’s air defence systems intercepted and destroyed 10 drones over the past hours, the country’s Ministry of Defence said in a statement yesterday morning.

It did not disclose where the interceptions took place. Also, the Kuwaiti National Guard says it shot down four drones after air raid sirens sounded in the Gulf nation for a second time within hours. Meanwhile, top diplomats from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt met in Islamabad yesterday as part of a fresh push to find a way out of the raging conflict in the Middle East.