Live updates: Iran war continues as Americans are urged to leave the Middle East

The United States and Israel hit Iran’s capital and other cities in multiple airstrikes on Wednesday, the fifth day of the war with Iran.

According to the Associated Press, the Israeli military said one of its F-35 stealth fighter jets shot down a piloted Iranian Air Force YAK-130 fighter over Tehran on Wednesday. 

RELATED: Iran update: Pentagon identifies first US casualties

Officials also told the news outlet that Israeli air defenses were activated to intercept Iranian missiles fired at targets around the country, and explosions were heard around Jerusalem.

Here are the latest updates from Wednesday.

US State Department orders non-emergency staff and families in Pakistan’s Lahore and Karachi to leave

1:26 a.m. ET: According to the Associated Press, the U.S. State Department has ordered non-emergency staff and their families working in the consulates in Lahore and Karachi to leave the country due to safety concerns.

Staff at the embassy in the capital Islamabad were not affected by the order, the AP noted. 

Pakistan shares a long western border with Iran and has a sizable Shiite Muslim minority. Roughly10 people were killed in Karachi on Sunday after protesters attempted to storm the consulate in the city, Pakistan’s largest.

4 of 6 soldiers killed identified

Dig deeper:

The Pentagon released the names of four of the six service members who were killed in the Iran war, saying they died in a drone strike in Kuwait.

All four Army Reserve soldiers were killed Sunday when a drone hit a command center in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait.  All were assigned to the 103rd Sustainment Command in Des Moines, lowa.

The four soldiers included: 

• Sgt. Declan Coady, 20, of Des Moines, Iowa. Coady was posthumously promoted from specialist.
• Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor, 39, of White Bear Lake, Minnesota.
• Sgt. 1st Class Noah Tietjens, 42, of Bellevue, Nebraska.
• Capt. Cody Khork, 35, of Winter Haven, Florida.

The remaining soldiers’ identities who were killed have not been released yet. 

Hundreds have died in the US-Israeli strikes

The other side:

The Associated Press reported that the U.S.-Israeli strikes have killed at least 787 people in Iran, citing the Red Crescent Society. Eleven people in Israel have been killed since the conflict began.

Kuwait said Wednesday that an 11-year-old girl was killed by falling shrapnel as Kuwaiti forces were intercepting “hostile aerial targets.” In addition, three people were killed in the United Arab Emirates and one in Bahrain, according to the AP. 

US and Israel attack Iran 

The backstory:

On Saturday, the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Tehran, and President Donald Trump said the U.S. was starting major combat operations against Iran.

The strikes killed the country’s leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and several other high ranking officials, throwing its leadership into question and raising the risk of regional instability.  

Big picture view:

Trump said there were four objectives for the operations: 

• Destroy Iran’s missile capabilities
• Wipe out its naval capacity
• Stop the country from obtaining a nuclear weapon
• “Ensure that the Iranian regime cannot continue to arm, fund and direct terrorist armies outside of their borders.”

This is the second time in eight months that the Trump administration has attacked the Islamic Republic during talks over its nuclear program.