LONDON — Fighting rippled across the Middle East on Tuesday in a spiraling conflict that started with the U.S.-Israeli bombing of Iran. Hundreds of people have been killed, military bases and embassies have been damaged and travel, energy and shipping severely disrupted.

Iran expanded retaliatory strikes against U.S. targets in the Persian Gulf as the Trump administration signaled that the U.S.-Israeli strikes could continue for weeks or longer. The State Department closed its embassies in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait after drone attacks and urged Americans to depart immediately from 14 Middle East countries.

Fighting intensified in Lebanon as Israeli troops seized territory in the south of the country and as Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militia, attacked Israel with what it called a “swarm of attack drones.”

Oil and natural gas prices have surged as Iran has targeted energy facilities in the Gulf. Iran threatened ships traveling through the Strait of Hormuz, normally a transit point for about one-fifth of the world’s oil supply, where traffic had already slowed to a trickle.

Iran’s Red Crescent Society, the country’s main humanitarian relief organization, said Tuesday that 787 people had been killed since the start of the U.S.-Israeli attacks. The United States said that six of its service members had been killed in Iranian strikes since Saturday. The Lebanese health ministry said that at least 31 people had been killed in fighting. In Israel, at least 10 people have been killed, and in the Gulf, there have been six deaths since Saturday, according to authorities.

No immediate end to the fighting is in sight. President Donald Trump has offered an open-ended time frame for the U.S. military campaign. Ali Larijani, a top Iranian official, has said that Iran has “prepared itself for a long war” and would not negotiate with the United States.

Iran

Thousands of airstrikes conducted by the United States and Israel in Iran since Saturday have killed several military leaders and senior officials, including Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country’s supreme leader.

The strikes have killed hundreds of other people, including many civilians. The Iranian Red Crescent said Monday that the American and Israeli attacks had killed 555 people across Iran.

At least 175 people, most of them likely children, were killed in a strike on a girls’ elementary school in southern Iran on Saturday, health officials and Iranian state media said. It was not immediately clear why the school had been hit or by whom.

Israeli and American strikes have damaged government buildings and military infrastructure, including Iranian missile launchers, air defense systems and headquarters of the Revolutionary Guard, a powerful military force. Targets include Iran’s police stations, detention centers and intelligence offices, in an apparent effort to weaken the country’s internal security agencies.

US Bases and Embassies

Iranian attacks have killed six U.S. service members, including at least four who died after an Iranian strike on a base in Kuwait.

The United States closed its embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, after an attack by two drones started a fire and inflicted minor damage.

The U.S. Embassy in Kuwait was also struck by a drone attack, according to two U.S. officials, who spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. In a video from the scene verified by The New York Times, smoke could be seen billowing from the area.

Three U.S. jets were “mistakenly” shot down by Kuwait during “an apparent friendly fire incident,” the U.S. military said Monday, adding that all six crew members had ejected safely.

Israel

At least 10 people have been killed in Israel. Nine were killed Sunday in an Iranian missile strike in Beit Shemesh, about 18 miles west of Jerusalem. A woman also died after a strike in Tel Aviv on Saturday. Missile barrages and air-raid sirens have sent Israelis running repeatedly to bomb shelters.

Lebanon

Israel said Tuesday that it was carrying out strikes in Lebanon and that its forces had seized new areas in the country’s south, near the Israeli border.

The strikes came a day after Israel bombed areas around Beirut, the capital, and in the south, in response to rocket fire from Hezbollah. The fighting has shattered a truce that had held for about a year.

Israel’s strikes have killed at least 31 people, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. Many residents of southern Lebanon have fled their homes.

Saudi Arabia

The U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital, sustained minor damage after an attack by what appeared to be two drones, the Saudi Defense Ministry said Tuesday.

A few hours later, the defense ministry said that eight drones had been intercepted and destroyed near the cities of Riyadh and Al-Kharj, which is southeast of the capital. The Canadian Embassy in Riyadh also announced that it would close for the day and canceled all in-person appointments through Friday.

On Monday, Saudi Arabia said that a fire had broken out at the Ras Tanura oil refinery after fragments fell from two intercepted Iranian drones. Some units of the refinery were shut down as a precautionary measure.

Other Gulf States

Countries in the Persian Gulf that are allied with the United States or that host U.S. military bases have been targeted by hundreds of Iranian drone and missile strikes. Iran has hit military facilities and also civilian hotels and airports.

Most of the Iranian attacks have been intercepted, the Gulf countries said. At least six people were killed and more than 100 were wounded in the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain. Some countries have been forced to close their airspace.

— United Arab Emirates: The country said Tuesday that its air defenses were “dealing with a barrage of ballistic missiles” from Iran.

Three people, one each from Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh, were killed in previous strikes, a sign that foreign workers, who make up a large proportion of the population, could bear the brunt of the fighting.

In Dubai, the Middle East’s business capital, five-star hotels caught fire, explosions shattered the windows of residential towers and the bustling international airport was damaged, injuring four people and shaking the city’s image as a safe haven.

— Bahrain: One person was killed and two were seriously injured after debris falling from an intercepted missile started a fire on a ship, the interior ministry said Monday. A luxury hotel and several residential buildings were hit in Manama, the capital. An Iranian drone hit a building, starting a fire, a Times analysis showed.

— Kuwait: At least one person was killed and more than 30 were injured, Kuwaiti authorities said.

— Oman: Oman, which had sought to mediate between Washington and Tehran in an effort to avert war, has not been spared. A drone attack damaged a fuel tanker in a commercial port, state news said Tuesday. In another attack on an oil tanker in Omani waters Monday, Oman said, an Indian crew member was killed.

— Qatar: The country, which hosts a major U.S. air base, said Monday that its air force had shot down two Su-24 bombers coming from Iran. It was the first report that in addition to missiles and drones, Iran has also sent warplanes toward its Gulf neighbors.

Qatar’s state-owned energy company said that it would stop producing liquefied natural gas after attacks on two of its sites, which sent natural gas prices higher.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Amelia Nierenberg

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