Updated March 2, 2026 at 10:44 AM CST
AMMAN, Jordan — The war over Iran engulfed more of the Middle East and beyond on Monday as strikes intensified, Iran-backed groups stepped up attacks and a fourth U.S. service member was killed in action.
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said Monday the fourth U.S. service member died after being wounded during Iran's initial attacks in response to U.S. and Israeli strikes across Iran Saturday. A U.S. official not authorized to speak publicly told NPR that the troops who were killed were ground-based forces stationed in Kuwait.
"We expect to take additional losses, and as always, we will work to minimize losses," Gen. Dan Caine, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Monday.
President Trump on Sunday had pledged that the U.S. would "avenge" the deaths of American troops.
In a separate incident, CENTCOM said three U.S. F-15E fighter jets crashed in Kuwait "due to an apparent friendly fire incident" Sunday night.
"During active combat—that included attacks from Iranian aircraft, ballistic missiles, and drones — the U.S. Air Force fighter jets were mistakenly shot down by Kuwaiti air defenses," it said in a statement. CENTCOM said all six members of the crew were "ejected safely, have been safely recovered, and are in stable condition."
It added that Kuwait acknowledged the incident and said that "the cause of the incident is under investigation."
Meanwhile, the Iranian Red Crescent Society, a humanitarian organization, said at least 555 Iranians have been killed since the beginning of U.S. and Israeli attacks on Saturday.
They include Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and members of his family. Iranian officials also said more than 168 schoolgirls were killed in a direct hit on a school.
Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah enters the fray, and Israel retaliates
Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group in Lebanon, said it launched attacks in Israel in revenge for the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as in response to continued Israeli attacks in Lebanon since a ceasefire more than a year ago.
Israel said it intercepted one of the missiles while others fell into open areas, and responded to the attacks with airstrikes.
Lebanon's Health Ministry said Israeli airstrikes killed at least 31 people and wounded at least 149 — most of them in southern Lebanon.
The Lebanese government, facing being drawn into another devastating war, said it planned to arrest those responsible for the rocket attack on Israel.
In the capital Beirut, residents leaving southern Lebanon and Beirut's southern suburbs streamed into shelters set up in schools, which have been closed by the government.
At the Renee Mouawad public school in central Beirut, many of those arriving had been displaced two years ago during fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. Families arrived in cars piled high with mattresses and other belongings.
Abu Ali, a taxi driver who did not want to give his full name out of fear of being ostracized in his pro-Hezbollah neighborhood, said he left Dahiya, a Beirut suburb that is a Hezbollah stronghold, with his family at three in the morning after hearing air strikes.
"I spent the morning looking for a school and then I found this," he said. He and his family were last displaced during the war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2024.
"Last time I stayed in the streets," he said. "The schools were all full, and I couldn't pay rent for a house."
"The Israeli enemy is an enemy in the end. But enough — we also want to live," he said.
Israel continued a wave of strikes across the Iranian capital overnight that it said were aimed at security targets.
Casualties rise in Israel
Since Israel launched surprise attacks in Iran this weekend, Iran has been launching missiles at Israeli cities — killing at least 10 people.
Nine of those killed were at a public shelter that was hit by a missile in a city outside Jerusalem on Sunday.
Another missile attack in Tel Aviv killed a caregiver from the Philippines.
Shay Shor, an Israeli in Tel Aviv, said he wants Iranians to be free but is concerned Israel's killing of Supreme Leader Khamenei might not achieve that.
"We killed their leader, but the leadership in Iran is not completely destroyed and within a few months they're just going to come back," Shor says. "Next year is going to be the same thing, same story, same kind of war."
Other updates
Iran-backed militias in Iraq have also entered the fighting. They fired at a U.S. base in Irbil in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and claimed responsibility for a drone attack targeting U.S. forces at Baghdad airport.
A drone strike hit a British air force base on the Mediterranean island nation of Cyprus, according to Britain's Defence Ministry. There were no casualties reported.
Iran's military said it shot down a U.S. F-15 fighter jet. It also said it fired 15 cruise missiles at the huge Ali al-Salem U.S. air base in Kuwait and what it called enemy vessels in the Indian Ocean. It did not mention fighter aircraft.
Gulf countries have so far largely left the fighting to U.S. forces stationed on their territory but increasing Iranian attacks are raising the specter of direct involvement by those states.
Saudi Arabia said Monday that it shot down two drones targeting one of its major refineries. It said the debris started what it called a limited fire at the Ras Tanura refinery but no civilian injuries.
The U.S. military said it had hit an Iranian warship, which was sinking Sunday in an Iranian port. Trump said in a video on social media that the U.S. had sunk nine Iranian warships and "largely destroyed" Iran's naval headquarters. The U.S. military's Central Command said it could not confirm those claims.
Global crude oil prices surged and stocks fell as the war with Iran entered its third day. Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had hit three U.S. and U.K. oil tankers in the Gulf. On Saturday Iran said it was closing the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway vital to the global oil trade.
After Israel, Gulf countries that have long been considered as prosperous havens for Western expatriates have received the brunt of Iranian attacks.
After airport attacks and widespread flight cancellations, British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper told Sky News Monday that the government was considering arranging evacuation if needed for hundreds of thousands of citizens in the region.
Daniel Estrin contributed reporting from Tel Aviv, Israel. Jawad Rizkallah reported from Beirut.
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