During a live broadcast on Thursday, RT journalist Steve Sweeney instinctively ducked as the ominous sound of an incoming missile echoed in the background.

Mere moments later, the missile struck nearby, resulting in a powerful explosion that filled the air with debris and shrapnel, visibly disrupting both Sweeney and his cameraman, Ali Rida.

Reports indicate that the conflict has claimed over 1,000 lives, while Israel asserts that it has eliminated more than 500 Hezbollah fighters.

Within Israel, 15 individuals have fallen victim to the barrage of Iranian missiles.

Additionally, an Iranian missile strike reportedly claimed four lives in the occupied West Bank overnight, according to authorities.

Tensions escalated as Iran ramped up its assault on oil and gas infrastructures around the Gulf on Thursday, intensifying a conflict that is reverberating through the global economy.

The strikes, in retaliation for an Israeli attack on a key Iranian gas field, sent fuel prices soaring and risked drawing Iran’s Arab neighbours directly into the conflict. 

Since the US and Israel launched the war on February 28, Iran’s top leaders have been killed in airstrikes and the country’s military capabilities have been severely degraded.

Still, Iran — now led by the son of the supreme leader killed in the war’s opening salvo — remains capable of missile and drone attacks rattling its Gulf Arab neighbours and a global economy dependent on the energy they produce.

– Reported with Associated Press

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