BEIRUT/JERUSALEM, March 6 (Reuters) - Israel carried out heavy airstrikes on the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut overnight after ordering its residents to leave, while the Iran-backed group warned Israelis to leave towns and villages at the frontier.

Explosions and flashes lit up the night sky over the Beirut southern suburbs, Reuters footage showed. The Israeli military said it had carried out 26 waves of strikes overnight in the southern suburbs, saying targets included Hezbollah's command centres and weapons storage facilities.

By Xinghui Kok, Rae Wee and Yantoultra Ngui

SINGAPORE/DUBAI, March 6 (Reuters) - Soon after the first Iranian missile and drone attacks on Dubai last week, two Indian entrepreneurs based there tried to move more than $100,000 each from their local bank accounts to Singapore to hedge risk.

Technological glitches in the aftermath of the Iranian attacks initially scuppered those plans, the entrepreneurs, who did not wish to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter, told Reuters.

By Jeslyn Lerh

SINGAPORE, March 6 (Reuters) - Fuel oil traders in Asia are struggling to secure alternative supply as the Iran war curtails shipments from key Middle Eastern suppliers through the Strait of Hormuz, prompting them to look to the West for replacement cargoes.

JAKARTA, March 6 (Reuters) - Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto has reassured local Islamic groups that he will withdraw from U.S. President Donald Trump's 'Board of Peace' if the platform does not benefit Palestinians, a government statement said on Friday.

The participation of Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority nation, on the board, and its decision to contribute troops for a Gaza stabilisation force,has drawn criticism from experts and Muslim groups at home, who say it compromises its long-standing support for the Palestinian cause.

An Israeli strike on a hotel in central Beirut killed at least four people Sunday, Lebanese officials said, underscoring the widening reach of the US-backed war against Iran as missiles, drones and air strikes pounded targets across the region.

The attack came with the conflict spilling into a second week, as both sides pressed attacks and the bodies of the first US troops to die in the war were returned home.

An AFP photographer at the bombed seafront hotel saw shattered windows and heavy damage to one room while security forces sealed off the area.

By Parisa Hafezi and Steve Holland

DUBAI/WASHINGTON, March 6 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump encouraged Iranian Kurdish forces in Iraq to launch attacks against Iran as the Middle East conflict widened, with Azerbaijan warning it would retaliate for being targeted by Iranian missiles.

Israel on Friday said it had started a "broad-scale" wave of attacks against infrastructure targets in Tehran, as Gulf cities came under renewed bombardment by Iran.

By Steve Holland, Jarrett Renshaw, Nandita Bose and Bo Erickson

WASHINGTON, March 5 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Thursday he was not concerned about rising U.S. gas prices driven by the widening Iran conflict, telling Reuters in an exclusive interview that the U.S. military operation was his priority.

"I don't have any concern about it," he said, when asked about the higher prices at the pump. "They'll drop very rapidly when this is over, and if they rise, they rise, but this is far more important than having gasoline prices go up a little bit."

By Julie Zhu

HONG KONG, March 6 (Reuters) - Emirates and Etihad Airways were resuming limited flight schedules to key global cities from their United Arab Emirates hubs on Friday, though the ongoing threat of missile fire piled pressure on airlines as they scramble to accommodate travellers.

With most airspace in the Middle East still closed over missile and drone concerns since the start of the U.S.-Israel war against Iran, authorities have been arranging charter flights and securing seats on limited commercial services to evacuate tens of thousands of people.

Crude prices surged Friday on mounting fears about oil supply disruption during the Middle East war, while equities retreated on poor US hiring data.

The US-Israel war on Iran and Tehran's retaliatory attacks across the Gulf region have upended the world's energy and transport sectors, virtually halting traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

By Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali

March 5 (Reuters) - U.S. military investigators believe it is likely that U.S. forces were responsible for an apparent strike on an Iranian girls' school that killed scores of children on Saturday but have not yet reached a final conclusion or completed their investigation, two U.S. officials told Reuters.

Reuters was unable to determine more details about the investigation, including what evidence contributed to the tentative assessment, what type of munition was used, who was responsible or why the U.S. might have struck the school.