In Iran's capital Tehran and other cities, the first Friday prayers since the US-Israeli war on the country began a week ago were held. Many worshippers carried portraits of the assassinated Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. An Al Jazeera team on the ground reported that people gathered for midday prayers on Friday during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, undeterred by ferocious bombardment on the capital, chanting anti-US and anti-Israeli slogans.

Iranian flags were also waved as people prepared to pray, seen as a sign of support for the Iranian government amid ongoing strikes, including an attack in the early hours of the conflict that killed the supreme leader. Footage shared by Iranian media showed crowds of men and women dressed in black streaming to an open space outside the Grand Mosque of Imam Khomeini in the capital. In one video, a man speaking through a loudspeaker mourned Khamenei, describing him as "the embodiment of piety and guardianship in our time," while others seated on prayer rugs openly wept.

Following prayers, worshippers marched in a demonstration against the US-Israeli war. The AFP news agency reported similar scenes in footage from other Iranian cities, including Ilam and Borujerd in the west and Zahedan in the southeast. The prayers were held as the US and Israeli waves of strikes on Tehran and other Iranian cities continued, after threats from United States Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that the bombardment was "about to surge dramatically."

The latest strikes on the capital reportedly hit a military academy and sites near a street housing key political offices, where Khamenei was killed on Saturday, as well as residential buildings, carparks, and petrol stations. Worshippers in many countries across the Middle East observed the third Friday prayers of Ramadan amid unprecedented threats and disruption due to the ongoing war.

While US and Israeli strikes targeted Iran, the Israeli military also continued its attacks in southern Lebanon and the southern suburbs of the capital, Beirut. Huge numbers of Lebanese have been displaced by the Israeli attacks, amid Israeli regime orders to issue threats of forced displacement in targeted areas. Meanwhile, countries across the Gulf, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates, have been targeted by Iranian drones or missiles in retaliatory strikes, mainly because of a US or Israeli presence.

In occupied East Jerusalem, Israel's Civil Administration said it had cancelled Friday prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third-holiest site, in the latest restrictions on activity at the complex. Civil Administration Chief Brigadier General Hisham Ibrahim said on Thursday via the Israeli army's Al Munasiq platform that the decision was taken in light of Iran launching retaliatory strikes at "Israel and the entire region." However, the Israeli regime regularly restricts access by Palestinians to Islam's third-holiest site, including during Friday prayers in the current holy month of Ramadan. Sheikh Ikrima Sabri, a senior imam at Al-Aqsa, told Al Jazeera earlier this week: "The occupation authorities are exploiting any occasion to close Al-Aqsa, and this is completely unjustified."

Source: www.aljazeera.com