Explosions continue to be heard for a seventh day in Iran, Israel, and across several Middle Eastern states after the United States and Israel began attacking Iran on Saturday. Tehran has responded by launching waves of missiles and drones at Israel and towards several military bases in the Middle East where US forces operate. Iran had previously warned that if it were attacked, it would respond by targeting US military facilities across the region, which it considers legitimate targets.
Which countries have been attacked?
US forces have struck nearly 2,000 targets in Iran since Saturday, the US Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees US forces in the region, said on Tuesday.Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) says it has launched attacks on at least 27 bases in the Middle East where US troops are deployed as well as Israeli military facilities in Tel Aviv and other parts of Israel.In total, Iran has launched 500 missiles and 2,000 drones during the first four days of hostilities, according to Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of CENTCOM.So far, Iran has launched strikes across nine countries in the region: Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. An Iranian drone also struck a runway at a UK military base in Cyprus.
Most of these attacks have been intercepted.The death toll in Iran from the US-Israeli attacks has risen to 1,332, Iran’s semiofficial Tasnim news agency is reporting.The deadliest single incident occurred in the city of Minab in southeastern Iran, where a strike on an elementary girls school. Hossein Kermanpour, the head of public relations at Iran’s Health Ministry, says the Israeli attack on the girls’ school in Minab on Sunday has killed “about 180 young children”.
On Sunday afternoon, an Iranian ballistic missile strike on central Israel’s Beit Shemesh killed nine people and injured more than 20. Rescue workers are still combing through the rubble. Later on Saturday, one woman in the Tel Aviv area was confirmed killed after being struck by falling shrapnel.At least 40 buildings in Tel Aviv were damaged in Iranian strikes on Saturday, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported, citing the city government.
On Monday, the US military confirmed that its death toll from the conflict has risen to six, after two bodies were recovered from a regional facility struck by Iran.Iranian missiles have targeted the headquarters of the US Navy’s 5th Fleet in Bahrain’s Juffair area multiple times.Bahrain’s Ministry of Interior also confirmed that the country’s international airport was targeted with a drone, “resulting in material damage without loss of life”.On Saturday night, several residential buildings in the capital, Manama, were struck by Iranian drones.The Ministry of Interior confirmed that an Asian worker was killed on Monday when debris from an intercepted missile fell onto a foreign vessel undergoing maintenance in Salman Industrial City.
The US and Israel also targeted the Jurf al-Sakher base, also known as Jurf al-Nasr, in southern Iraq, which houses the Popular Mobilisation Forces, made up of mostly Shia fighters, and the Iran-supported Iraqi paramilitary group Kataib Hezbollah.Iraqi state media and sources within Kataib Hezbollah confirmed that two fighters were killed in the strikes and five were wounded.In northern Iraq‘s semiautonomous Kurdish region, where the US is reported to still have troops, several powerful explosions were reported near the US consulate and international airport in Erbil.
Air defences intercepted the drone attacks on Saturday, according to reports.The Jordanian armed forces reported intercepting 49 drones and ballistic missiles that entered Jordanian airspace. While their fragments caused localised property damage.On Monday, Kuwait’s Defense Ministry said “several” US warplanes have crashed in the country, all the crew survived.On Wednesday, The Kuwaiti Ministry of Health reported the death of a girl from shrapnel-induced injuries.
At least three others have been killed in Kuwait since the start of the conflict between US-Israeli forces and Iran.Lebanon’s Health Ministry says Israeli attacks in the country since Monday have killed a total of 123 people and injured 683.At least eight people were killed in Israeli attacks on Thursday including four members of the same family in the southern village of Kfar Tebnit.The Israeli army says it has conducted 26 rounds of attacks in southern Beirut’s Dahiyeh suburb, where it threatened civilians to flee. It claims to have hit various infrastructure used by Hezbollah, including the headquarters of the group’s Executive Council and a warehouse with drones on Friday.
Hezbollah launched what it said was a rocket and drone attack against a military base near Haifa, in northern Israel, in retaliation for the killing of Khamenei.On Sunday morning, the Oman News Agency, quoting a security source, said two drones had targeted the Duqm port, injuring one foreign worker.Later, Oman’s Maritime Security Centre said a Palau-flagged oil tanker was attacked about 5 nautical miles (9km) off Oman’s Musandam governorate, injuring four people.The Qatari Ministry of Interior confirmed that the number of injured was at 16 people. Most injuries were reported to be from falling shrapnel and debris with one person seriously hurt.
The Qatari Ministry of Defence confirmed that two ballistic missiles struck the Al Udeid military base, where US forces are stationed, while a drone targeted an early warning radar installation.The Qatar Civil Aviation Authority suspended all air navigation indefinitely. Qatar Airways grounded all flights.All schools have moved to remote learning, and public gatherings for Ramadan have been suspended until further notice to ensure public safety.The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that Iranian attacks targeted both the capital, Riyadh, and Eastern Province, home to major oil infrastructure and the King Abdulaziz Air Base.The kingdom has officially reported no casualties.(AL ZAZAERA)