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Smoke rises in Habbouch in southern Lebanon following Israeli strikes, as seen from Nabatieh, Lebanon, on Friday [Reuters]
By Lyndal Rowlands, Zsombor Peter, Heba Habib, Lorraine Mallinder, Mariamne Everett, Alex Milan Durie, Umut Uras, Zaid Sabah and Danai Nesta Kupemba
Published On 2 May 2026

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2 May 2026 - 23:59
 (23:59 GMT)

Our coverage continues

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Join us for all the latest developments, analyses and reactions here.

2 May 2026 - 23:45
 (23:45 GMT)

Here’s what happened today

  • The IRGC says the US and Israel may likely resume war on Iran and warns that Iranian forces remain “fully prepared” to counter any “adventures or foolishness” from Washington.
  • US President Donald Trump has voiced his disapproval of Iran’s recent peace initiative, noting that the proposal includes demands he “can’t agree to”.
  • Iran’s Foreign Ministry says the US president’s boast of acting like pirates is a “direct and damning admission of the criminal nature of their actions against international maritime navigation”.
  • Iran has proposed a 14-point “war-ending” plan to the US, seen as a counter-response to an earlier nine-point proposal sent by Washington.
  • Hezbollah has intensified its operations against Israeli units within Lebanese territory on Saturday amid a series of targeted strikes across the south.
  • The Israeli military admitted to striking a southern Lebanese “religious building” on Saturday. A Catholic charity later identified the structure as a convent, denouncing the strike as a “deliberate” attack on a sacred site.
2 May 2026 - 23:30
 (23:30 GMT)

Photos: Antiwar Israelis protest in Tel Aviv’s HaBima square

Hundreds of Israelis protested against the war on Iran at Tel Aviv’s Habima Square on Saturday, carrying antiwar banners and chanting slogans against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while also demanding an end to ultra-Orthodox military exemptions and a state inquiry into the October 7, 2023, attack.

Israeli left-wing activists demonstrate in HaBima Square against the ongoing war on Iran and the Israeli government, on Saturday [Jack Guez/AFP]
An Israeli activist holds up placards during the protest in HaBima Square [Jack Guez/AFP]
Israeli left-wing activists, one wearing a face mask depicting Netanyahu and holding US dollars, as they demonstrate in HaBima Square in Tel Aviv [Jack Guez/AFP]
[Jack Guez/AFP]

2 May 2026 - 23:15
 (23:15 GMT)

WATCH: Spirit Airlines collapses amid rising fuel costs from war on Iran

US budget carrier Spirit Airlines shuts down after talks for a government bailout failed, leaving 17,000 workers jobless and many passengers stranded.

Rising fuel prices from the US-Israel war on Iran are partially blamed for Spirit’s rapid decline.

Watch below for more:

2 May 2026 - 23:00
 (23:00 GMT)
Houthi

Trump to review Iran’s peace plan amid scepticism over past actions

US President Donald Trump says he is preparing to review a newly submitted peace proposal from Iran, though he expresses significant doubt regarding its acceptability.

In a post on Truth Social, he wrote: “I will soon be reviewing the plan that Iran has just sent to us, but can’t imagine that it would be acceptable in that they have not yet paid a big enough price for what they have done to Humanity, and the World, over the last 47 years.”

As we reported earlier, Iranian media said that Tehran had submitted a new 14-point proposal to mediators for a permanent end to the war on Iran.

2 May 2026 - 23:00
 (23:00 GMT)

Israeli forces attack Syria’s Quneitra and Deraa

The Israeli military has shelled Syria’s countryside of Quneitra and Deraa using several artillery rounds, according to the state-owned Sana news agency.

The shells were fired from the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights and struck the area of Tal al-Ahmar al-Sharqi and al-Rafid town, but no one was injured.

Sana reported that the Israeli forces also targeted the Kudna forest and the outskirts of Jamla village in the Yarmouk Basin in the western countryside with an artillery shell.

Syria’s southern regions, including Quneitra, have long witnessed Israeli territorial violations.

Recently, dozens of Israeli settlers crossed into Syrian territory in the Golan Heights, demanding approval to build a new settlement.

2 May 2026 - 22:57
 (22:57 GMT)
Houthi

US could restart strikes on Iran, says Trump

Trump says there is a possibility the US could restart strikes on Iran, in response to a reporter’s question at West Palm Beach in Florida, the Reuters news agency has reported.

2 May 2026 - 22:45
 (22:45 GMT)

Court hearing set for Sunday for 2 flotilla activists abducted by Israeli forces

Two activists from the Global Sumud Flotilla are scheduled to appear in court on Sunday morning after being taken into Israeli custody and transferred to Israel, according to the group.

In a post on X, the flotilla said Israeli forces intercepted their boats on the high seas, forcibly transferred participants to Crete, and subjected them to brutalisation and beating. All were later released, except for Saif Abukeshek and Thiago Ávila.

2 May 2026 - 22:30
 (22:30 GMT)

Hezbollah ramps up attacks on Israeli forces in southern Lebanon

Hezbollah says its fighters are launching a series of targeted strikes against Israeli forces positioned inside Lebanese territory as of Saturday.

According to a statement from the group, the operations involve a combination of loitering munitions and artillery fire aimed at several front-line positions.

In the town of Biyyada, the group targeted two separate gatherings of Israeli soldiers and vehicles, including an explosive drone strike on troops positioned inside a house.

Hezbollah also reported deploying a loitering munition against an Israeli “Gil-Spike” antitank missile site in the same town.

The wave of attacks extended to the town of al-Qantara, where the group reported targeting a gathering of Israeli vehicles and soldiers at the Jneijel hilltop with artillery shells.

Additionally, Hezbollah claims to have struck a third concentration of Israeli military assets in Biyyada using heavy artillery.

Smoke rises in southern Lebanon following Israeli strikes, as seen from Nabatieh, Lebanon, May 2, 2026 [Stringer/ Reuters]
2 May 2026 - 22:15
 (22:15 GMT)

CENTCOM commander visits USS Tripoli in Arabian Sea

US Central Command chief Admiral Brad Cooper visited sailors and marines on board USS Tripoli in the Arabian Sea during a trip to the region, CENTCOM said in a post on X.

Cooper oversees US military operations across the Middle East and was part of the negotiating team at the talks in Islamabad last month.

The visit comes as the US naval blockade continues to be enforced in the Gulf of Oman, adjacent to where the USS Tripoli is operating.

2 May 2026 - 22:00
 (22:00 GMT)

US ‘piracy’ admission ‘damning’ evidence of criminality, Iran says

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei asserts that the US president has openly described the unlawful capture of Iranian vessels as “piracy” and has brazenly boasted that “we act like pirates”.

Posting on X, Baghaei stated that this was no verbal slip, but rather, a “direct and damning admission of the criminal nature of their actions against international maritime navigation”.

He called on the international community, UN member states and the UN secretary-general “firmly reject any normalization of such blatant violations of international law.”

2 May 2026 - 21:45
 (21:45 GMT)
Analysis

‘A veto on Lebanon’s defence capabilities’: How US, Israel created conditions for Hezbollah

The US and Israel have long sought to limit Lebanon’s military capabilities, leaving Hezbollah as the primary counter to Israel, according to Ziad Abu-Rish, associate professor of human rights and Middle Eastern studies at Bard College, speaking to Al Jazeera from Beirut.

“Since the end of the civil war, the United States and Israel have in various ways effectively vetoed the development of the Lebanese armed forces’ capabilities to serve as an effective defence force against external aggression, namely, that of Israel,” he said. “It is in this context that Hezbollah has continued to serve as the primary resistance force to Israeli aggression.”

On demands to disarm Hezbollah, Abu-Rish was direct: “We should be very clear about what the United States and Israel are demanding. They are not calling for the Lebanese army to take up the defence of Lebanon. They are calling for the Lebanese army to open an internal front against the only group that is defending Lebanon against Israeli aggression and US support for that aggression.”

2 May 2026 - 21:30
 (21:30 GMT)

Israeli air strike kills 3 in southern Lebanon

The National News Agency (NNA) reports that an Israeli air strike targeting the town of al-Sama’iya, in southern Lebanon’s Tyre district, has killed three people.

Despite the 10-day ceasefire that took effect on April 17, 2026, which was later extended, Israeli forces have continued to bombard Lebanon with frequent air strikes and artillery fire.

2 May 2026 - 21:15
 (21:15 GMT)

Israel continues strikes on south Lebanon

Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reports that the Israeli army has carried out air strikes on the towns of Adshit and Yohmor al-Shaqif.

Yohmor al-Shaqif was also subjected to artillery shelling, the NNA said.

2 May 2026 - 21:00
 (21:00 GMT)

Hezbollah says it attacked Israeli forces in Lebanon’s Tyre district

The Lebanese group targeted a gathering of Israeli vehicles and soldiers in the town of Biyyada with artillery shells at 10:15pm (20:15 GMT), according to a statement by the group.

Hezbollah claimed that it achieved “confirmed hits”.

2 May 2026 - 20:45
 (20:45 GMT)
Houthi

Iran sends US plan to end war ‘on all fronts’, including Lebanon: Iranian media

Iran has reportedly presented a 14-point plan to the US focused on “ending the war”, according to Iran’s semi-official Tasnim agency. This comes after the US reportedly sent Iran a nine-point proposal.

Tasnim reports that the US had requested a ceasefire with a two-month deadline, but Iran has insisted that issues must be resolved within 30 days instead, and that the focus should be on “ending the war“ rather than extending the ceasefire.

Iran’s 14-point plan includes guarantees of non-aggression, the withdrawal of US forces from the vicinity of Iran, the lifting of the naval blockade, the release of Iran’s frozen assets, the lifting of sanctions, and an end to the war “on all fronts“, including in Lebanon, according to Tasnim.

Iran is reportedly awaiting a response from the US to its proposal.

2 May 2026 - 20:30
 (20:30 GMT)

WATCH: Lebanon’s health system near collapse as hospitals struggle to treat wounded, displaced

Hospitals in southern Lebanon are straining under Israeli attacks, treating war injuries and accommodating displaced people, with some sheltering staff to stay operational.

Civilians like farm worker Sana Khalil, now a double amputee after being caught in an Israeli drone strike on a banana plantation, illustrate the conflict’s impact.

Al Jazeera’s Rory Challands reports from Beirut:

2 May 2026 - 20:15
 (20:15 GMT)

Italian and Iranian FMs hold talks over the phone

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani has voiced strong concern about rising tensions in the Middle East in a phone call with his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi.

In a statement on X, Tajani said the two sides reviewed the “ongoing conflict in Iran and the situation in the Middle East,” stressing the urgent need to prevent further escalation.

He underscored the importance of intensifying diplomatic efforts towards an agreement and reopening the Strait of Hormuz, warning that continued disruption could have negative consequences for food security and stability, particularly in Africa.

“I clearly confirmed that for Italy, the development of an Iranian nuclear programme for military purposes represents a red line, with the concrete risk of triggering a dangerous nuclear arms race in the region,” Tajani said.

He also urged Iran to use its influence over Hezbollah to halt attacks against Israel and “to achieve, through negotiation, peace in Lebanon.”

“Italy is increasingly committed to supporting every international effort for peace, keeping channels of dialogue open with all partners and promoting stability in the Middle East,” he added.

2 May 2026 - 20:00
 (20:00 GMT)

Kuwait did not export any crude oil during April: Tanker tracker website

Kuwait did not export any crude oil during April for the first time since the end of the Gulf War in 1991, reports the international oil shipment website, TankerTrackers.com.

Kuwait continues to produce oil, some is being stored or used for refined products, but no crude was exported last month due to the Strait of Hormuz blockade, the website added.

2 May 2026 - 19:45
 (19:45 GMT)

Israel bombs several towns in southern Lebanon

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reports that Israeli aircraft launched attacks on Mount Rihan and Basaliya, and also on the town of al-Sarira in the Jezzine area in the last few minutes.

A short while ago, Israel hit near a mosque in the town of al-Samaiya, the news agency said.