In an open field dotted with sheep and goats more than 900 kilometres from the Iranian capital, Tehran, an unexploded missile wedged into the ground proves a curiosity for a Syrian "shepherd boy".
He is among a small group of men and children who examine the black rocket — with burnt orange patches — that fell from the sky and landed near the Qamishli International Airport, as the war being waged by the US and Israel on Iran continues.
About a dozen countries have been affected by the conflict, hundreds have been killed and the war has spread across the Middle East and beyond.
Azerbaijan has become the latest country to be affected by the conflict after it accused Iran of launching a drone attack on its territory that injured four civilians.
The country, located along the boundary of eastern Europe and western Asia, said drones attacked the exclave of Nakhchivan and damaged an airport building, according to a statement released by the foreign Ministry.
President Ilham Aliyev also accused Iran of carrying out "a groundless act of terror and aggression," and said his military had been told to prepare and implement retaliatory measures.
The incident came a day after NATO air defences destroyed an Iranian ballistic missile heading towards Turkish airspace, in another sign that the war is extending beyond the Middle East.
Authorities said the missile was intercepted near Türkiye's Incirlik base where US air forces were stationed.
The NATO ally had attempted to mediate peace talks between US and Iran prior to the beginning of the conflict, saying all parties should refrain from actions that would lead to "further escalation".
"We condemn Iran's targeting of Türkiye. NATO stands firmly with all Allies, including Türkiye," NATO spokesperson Allison Hart said.
The US has also sunk an Iranian navy vessel near Sri Lanka, extending the conflict's reach further.
United Nations humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said the ongoing conflict was affecting the lives of civilians in a dozen countries across the region.
"First, civilians are paying the price across the region," he said.
"Civilians must be protected — full stop. Yet strikes are hitting homes, hospitals, and schools.
"Civilians and civilian infrastructure have been under attack in Iran, Lebanon, Syria, the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Israel, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and beyond."
Humanitarian response plans had been activated and damage assessments were underway across Iran and in countries including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Gaza and the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen, he said.
The fallout in the Middle East
[map]The reported cost to human life as a result of the conflict has been the highest in Iran.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency estimates more than 1,000 civilians have died in the conflict so far.
At least 165 of those deaths occurred during an air strike on a girls' school in the southern town of Minab, according to Iranian state media.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the US was investigating the incident.
"We, of course, never target civilian targets, but we're taking a look and investigating that," he said.
US President Donald Trump told reporters on Tuesday, local time, that "just about everything" had been knocked out in Iran, including the country's navy, air force and air detection radar systems.
US and Israeli strikes targeted nuclear infrastructure, missile launchers, key government buildings in Tehran and leadership compounds, killing supreme leader Ali Khamenei and other top military officials.
In response, Iran has been firing "massive barrages" of retaliatory missile and drone strikes against some of its neighbouring Gulf nations.
Australians have been warned by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) not to travel to the country "due to the volatile security situation" and people already there have been told to seek shelter.
[map]There have been numerous attacks in parts of Iraq.
Iran-linked Iraqi militias have claimed responsibility for multiple attacks on the Kurdish region, which hosts bases with US troops.
Drone and missile launches have also targeted the US consulate in the city of Erbil.
In a wave of intense protests that broke out in multiple countries after Khamenei's death, demonstrators in Baghdad attempted to storm the US embassy in Iraq's capital.
Iraq's Ministry of Oil said it would stop production in a key oil field because of disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz and a shortage of tankers entering the Gulf, causing crude oil prices to surge worldwide.
The airspace over Iraq remains closed and there is a "Do Not Travel" DFAT warning for Australians, who are being urged to avoid the area, including the Kurdistan region.
[map]Syria's state news agency SANA has reported several people, including children, have been injured by debris from an Iranian missile strike outside the city of Damascus.
The agency said debris had also fallen in other southern provinces as a result of Iranian missile strikes, but no injuries or damage to infrastructure were reported.
The country's airspace remains closed and Australians are urged by DFAT not to travel there due to a "risk of further reprisal attacks and escalation" in the conflict.
After Israel sent troops into southern Lebanon to target the Iran-backed, terrorist-listed militant group Hezbollah, thousands of Syrians living in the country fled across the border back into Syria.
The UN Refugee Agency UNHCR said the number of people crossing from Lebanon into Syria rose to at least 10,629 on Monday.
Last month, between 3,900 and 4,400 people were crossing back into Syria daily, the agency said.
[map]At least 50 people have been killed, 335 injured, and tens of thousands displaced in the exchange of fire between Israel and Hezbollah, which is a member of Iran's so-called "axis of resistance", according to Lebanese authorities.
The death toll included seven children, a Palestinian militant leader and a Hezbollah intelligence official, authorities said.
Israel said it hit Beirut with more air strikes on Tuesday, local time, targeting "Hezbollah command centres and weapons storage facilities", and that troops were on the ground in southern border areas.
The Israeli military's Arabic spokesman Avichay Adraee also warned the residents of more than 80 southern villages and towns to leave and not return until further notice.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun told the ambassadors of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the US, France and Egypt that Hezbollah had fired rockets from areas north of the Litani River.
Lebanon's state-run National News Agency later said the country's army was evacuating from some positions.
The UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon is "seriously concerned" about ceasefire violations on all sides and has called for restraint to "prevent the current situation from spiralling out of control".
A senior Hezbollah official said in a statement seen by Reuters: "If the enemy wants an open war, then let it be an open war."
The UNHCR said about 30,000 displaced people were staying in shelters, "while many others slept in their cars, on sides of the roads as they could not yet find safe shelter".
DFAT's travel warning level for Lebanon was raised to "Do Not Travel" on Tuesday "due to the volatile security situation, armed conflict, civil unrest and terrorism".
Israel has fended off some strikes in the north of the country launched by Iran, its officials say.
At least 11 people have died so far, but the extent of damage to Israeli military bases and other sensitive locations remains unknown.
Jerusalem's Old City, the religious home of many holy sites, has been closed after being targeted by Iranian attacks.
UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said Israeli authorities "closed all crossings and suspended humanitarian movements" into Gaza when it launched its joint attack on Iran.
The agency warned it was "compounding an already dire humanitarian crisis" in Gaza.
DFAT has warned Australians not to travel to Israel or Palestine due to the security situation, and people who are there have been told to seek shelter.
The air space over both Israel and Palestine remains closed for commercially operated flights.
[map]Local police announced on Sunday that five people had been injured by falling shrapnel after projectiles, believed to have been launched by Iran, were intercepted in Jordanian airspace.
The Jordanian Civil Aviation Authority announced the country's air space would remain closed between the hours of 6pm and 7am daily.
The country has served as a hub for some evacuation flights destined for countries in Europe.
Australian authorities are urging people to reconsider their need to travel to Jordan while retaliatory air strikes are being launched across the Middle East.
[MAP]Saudi Arabia was one of the nations targeted in Iran's first wave of retaliatory strikes.
The country's Defense Ministry announced that a "limited fire" had been sparked after two drone attacks on the US embassy based in the city of Riyadh caused minor damage.
In response, the US embassy issued a warning for Americans to avoid visiting the facility.
Saudi Arabia's military told the country's state-run media agency that the Ras Tanura oil refinery was targeted by other drone attacks, but the strikes were intercepted.
That refinery holds a total daily capacity of half-a-million barrels of crude oil.
Australia's travel warning level for the country was raised on Tuesday, with travellers urged to reconsider their need to visit.
Australians have also been told to avoid areas surrounding military and critical infrastructure and to seek possible commercial exit routes out of the country.
[map]A significant part of Yemeni land is still controlled by the Iranian-backed Houthis listed as a terrorist organisation.
Since a ceasefire agreement was brokered in Gaza in October last year, there have been no reported incidents of Houthi attacks in the Red Sea to the country's south, according to the Australian government.
While the Houthis have expressed support for Iran, they have not immediately announced any military action on its behalf amid the latest conflict.
It also appears that Yemen has not been hit by the barrage of air strikes being launched across the Middle East.
Australians are still being urged not to travel to the country.
[map]US authorities have urged its citizens to immediately leave Oman — one of about a dozen countries subject to that warning.
Since then, the country has been attacked by multiple drones.
The country's largest port, Salalah, and the Duqm port were both targeted in the drone attacks and at least one vessel was hit in waters off the coast, Associated Press reported.
Oman's airspace has remained open through the duration of the Iran war, but many commercial flights have been impacted.
Oman Airways flagged flights were available from Muscat International Airport for passengers able to reach the city from the United Arab Emirates.
Australians are being told to reconsider travelling into Oman, and visitors already there have been urged to seek shelter if they are currently within a 100km radius of Duqm and Salalah.
[MAP]At least three foreign workers from Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan, have died in strikes on the UAE since the Iran war started.
The UAE government has reported up to 1,000 Iranian strikes have been launched towards the country, including at least 57 drone attacks and 186 ballistic missile strikes. One was not intercepted.
The US consulate in the UAE also came under attack and non-emergency personnel and their families were ordered to evacuate.
The UAE government said in a post on X on Tuesday that the country was not part of the US-Israel military operation against Iran and had not authorised the use of its territory to launch attacks.
As Iran began its retaliatory attacks on Saturday, local time, Dubai's international airport and its landmark Burj Al Arab hotel were damaged and at least four staff members were injured.
The country's airspace has been closed for commercial flights and travellers have been left stranded.
Demand for charter flights out of the UAE has since skyrocketed, with some people reportedly paying up to 200,000 euros ($330,000) for a seat.
Other travellers from Dubai have sought to evacuate by road to Muscat, Oman, about a four-hour drive away, or to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, more than 10 hours away.
DFAT's travel advice warning for Australians in the UAE remains at the "Do Not Travel" level.
[MAP]Travel in and out of Qatar has also been disrupted significantly as a result of Iran's retaliatory strikes.
On Saturday, four services operated by Virgin Australia and Qatar Airways were forced to turn back mid-flight after Qatari airspace closed.
Another seven Qatar Airways flights between Doha and Australian cities were cancelled on Sunday.
The Qatari Defense Ministry reported on Wednesday that two Iranian-launched ballistic missile attacks had targeted the country.
One was intercepted and the other hit the Al-Udeid Qatari Base, but did not cause casualties.
The Australian government raised its alert level for Qatar to "Do Not Travel" on Wednesday because of the closed airspace, retaliatory strikes from Iran and "widespread movement restrictions and other travel disruptions" sparked by the conflict.
[map]Bahrain has reported a single death linked to a strike that hit the country.
The country's interior minister said a fire ignited by the strike on Monday killed an Asian worker and injured two others.
Another drone strike hit an Amazon data centre in Bahrain, the tech company said on Tuesday.
The country's airspace remains closed and DFAT is urging Australians not to travel there.
[map]At least seven people have died and 32 others have been injured in various strikes that have hit Kuwait since the beginning of the conflict over the weekend.
One of the deaths was linked to an Iranian-launched strike, according to the Kuwaiti Health Ministry.
The six other deaths were US soldiers in the 103rd Sustainment Command logistics unit, who were killed in another drone strike on a command centre in Port Shuaiba.
On Monday, the US embassy was hit. It closed to the public on the following day.
DFAT says that Australians should not travel into the country and should seek shelter if they are there.
Truck traffic spanning the almost 700-kilometre border between Azerbaijan and Iran was halted on Thursday, local time, after the country claimed an Iranian drone attack in Nakhchivan injured four people.
In addition to the enclave's airport, the Azerbaijani foreign ministry said another drone struck a school where classes were underway.
At least one drone was intercepted and disabled, authorities said.
Iran's general staff of the armed forces denied the country had launched the attack.
Nakhchivan is separated from the rest of Azerbaijan by a 40-kilometre patch of Armenian territory. The enclave accounts for about 6 per cent of Azerbaijan's territory.
"We will not tolerate this groundless act of terror and aggression committed against Azerbaijan," Mr Aliyev said.
"Iranian officials must provide an explanation to the Azerbaijani side, an apology must be offered, and those who committed this terrorist act must be held criminally liable."
The nation's defence ministry also declared that Iran's "attacks will not go unanswered", and said it was preparing the "necessary response" to protect "the territorial integrity and sovereignty of our country, ensure the safety of civilians and civilian infrastructure". It did not elaborate.
Australia's travel advice level for the country was updated on Friday, urging visitors to exercise a high level of caution and to be aware of sporadically closing land border crossings.
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