Iran War Monday March 2

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 4:00 pm

- Iran's Revolutionary Guards say that the Strait of Hormuz is closed. "We will burn any ship that tries to cross the Strait of Hormuz."

 An Iranian drone strike on a hotel in Bahrain injured two U.S. Defense Department employees - WaPo

The U.S. military destroyed all 11 of Iran’s warships in the Gulf of Oman.

“but other than that, their navy is doing great.” -Trump

- Purim begins in EY with some minyanim for krias megilah in bomb shelters

- IDF says 1,000-3,000 IRGC members killed in 3 days; a large number of rocket and missile engineers were also eliminated.

- Head of IDF Military Intelligence: "We eliminated in 40 seconds more than 40 of the most important people in Iran, but we are not finished. We will find our enemies wherever they are. "

- A senior Israeli official in the security system told C14 News, "Within days, we will achieve absolute air superiority over Iran, and at the same time, we estimate that the terrorist regime in the country has only a few dozen launchers left expecting a significant reduction in the launch rate in the coming days."

- IDF strike kills Hezbollah intel chief; Lebanon to ban terror group’s military activity

- The US military announced it attacked Iran's drone carrier "Shahed Baqeri": "US forces struck the ship just hours after Operation 'Great Fury' began."

- Trump: "Following our obliteration of Iran's nuclear program, we warned Iran not to make any attempt to rebuild at a different location because they were not able to use the ones we so powerfully blew up. But they ignored those warnings and refused to cease their pursuit of nuclear weapons." - 

- Trump on Iran: "We projected 4-5 weeks, but we have capability to go far longer than that. We'll do whatever [it takes]."

- Trump: An Iranian regime armed with long-range missiles and nuclear weapons would be an unbearable threat to the Middle East, but also to the American people. Our country was almost under threat. I was very proud that I managed to cancel the nuclear deal with Iran by Barack Hussein Obama.

-  Trump "Every other president says - 'There will be no ground forces,' I do not say that." NYP

- Arkia and TUS are now selling flights between Taba, Egypt, and destinations like Athens, Larnaca, and Rome through 3/7. El Al is looking into offering flights to Taba via Klasjet as well, but hasn’t yet received approval. El Al is arranging rescue flights to bring Israelis back to Tel Aviv that will begin shortly, but won’t be able to accommodate passengers departing Israel at this time due to rules against congregating in one place.(Dans Deals) 

There's talk of the state department arranging evacuation flights but no updates yet 

- President Trump says Iran’s Arab neighbors facing Islamist Terror Regime rocket and suicide drone attacks insist on getting involved in fighting

- Netanyahu visited the scene of the rocket attack in bet Shemesh: "You see the difference. The tyrants of Tehran target civilians, we target the tyrants of Tehran to protect civilians."

- Home Front Command demands Immediate Closure of yeshivos and public gatherings 

- Rav Moshe Brandesdorfer shlit”a ruled that anyone who was delayed and remained away from their permanent home for Purim observes Purim according to their original residence.

A ben Yerushalayim keeps Purim on the 15th even if currently in Chutz LaAretz, and a ben Chutz LaAretz keeps Purim on the 14th even if presently in Yerushalayim.

- Trump to Fox News: Khamenei was having breakfast with his inner circle during the strike. He thought he was safe because it was broad daylight. The Iranians were somewhat arrogant when they all gathered in one place and thought they could not be exposed – this surprised us"

-Qatar: We shot down 2 Iranian Su-24 planes

-Fifteen US aircraft leave Spain after government says bases cannot be used for #Iran attacks Reuters

-Trump to CNN: The operation is progressing very well. "We haven't even started hitting them hard yet; the big wave hasn't happened yet. It will come soon."

- 9 victims of Iranian missile strike on Beit Shemesh named, including 3 teen siblings

Fatalities are teens Yaakov, Avigail, and Sara Biton; Ronit Elimelech and her mother, Sara; mother and son Bruria and Yosef Cohen; Gavriel Baruch Ravach and Oren Katz HYD.

- Lindsey Graham To say that Operation Epic Fury is ahead of schedule is a tremendous understatement. This is one of the most impressive military operations conceived in American history and it is being aggressively executed. Iran’s capability to generate attacks has been reduced by 50% 

-An Iranian missile has struck a luxury skyscraper in Bahrain reports suggest that this skyscraper is housing senior U.S. military command personnel.

- The IDF said  today that it has dropped 2,500 bombs on 600 Iranian targets since the start of the conflict on Saturday morning.

- Hegseth: US strikes on Iran won’t become ‘endless war,’ targeting missiles, navy

"We're hitting them surgically, overwhelmingly and unapologetically.

- Cleared for publication 3  children of Rav and Mrs. Yitzchok Biton  killed in Bet Shemesh Rocket attack.Yaakov Biton HYD  (16) Avigail Biton (15) Sarah HYD (13). Levaya will take place today at Har Hazeisim. Family requests that no govt ministers attend

- Rocket hits Beer Sheva Magen David Adom updates the wounded toll to 19.

One man, aged 35, was moderately injured, and 18 were lightly hurt.

The Iranian ballistic missile struck a residential area in the city, causing damage to several homes.

- The Revolutionary Guards: We attacked Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office and the residence of the Air Force commander – they suffered heavy damage. Israel denies

- IDF says it killed Hezbollah intelligence chief in overnight strike

- Home front comnand says no gatherings through Wednesday 

- The US military admits: 3 F-15E fighter jets fell in Kuwait, apparently accidentally, from friendly fire due to Kuwaiti air defenses.

-A British sovereign base in Cyprus was being evacuated on Monday after sirens sounded, an AFP correspondent said

- Israel  continues striking Iran heavily  and strikes in Lebanon 

- Ger chassidin were told not to gather in groups over Purim, bochurim should not dance in the streets or travel to seudos between cities and the Purim tish was canceled

- Hezbollah has 11k rockets/missiles in their arsenal. 5.5k-6k are considered in the range of Israel, two Israeli intelligence officials tell Fox News.

- IDF identified a shift over the past 24 hours in the pace and pattern of Iranian launches, with larger, more coordinated barrages of between nine and 30 missiles at a time instead of smaller “drip” attacks. Officials said Iran appears to be attempting sustained, organized salvos of dozens of projectiles and is adapting its tactics despite operational challenges.