DOHA/MANAMA: Several more explosions were heard across Doha and warning sirens sounded in Manama on Monday, according journalists, as Iran pressed its aerial campaign against Gulf neighbours. The oil-rich Gulf states have been targeted by waves of drones and missiles since Tehran launched its retaliation campaign in the wake of the US and Israeli attacks against Iran.
Doha has been targeted by waves of Iranian drones and missiles since Iran launched a sprawling retaliation campaign across the Gulf in the wake of US and Israeli attacks against the Islamic republic. Qatar’s defence ministry said on Monday that its forces had intercepted a missile attack. Bahrain said on Monday that an Iranian drone attack on the island of Sitra injured 32 people overnight, as Gulf nations reported new attacks with Tehran pressing its retaliatory strikes across the region. All of the wounded were Bahraini citizens and there were four “serious cases”, including children, the health ministry said in a statement carried by the state news agency. The wounded included a 17-year old girl who suffered severe head and eye injuries, and a two-month-old baby, according to the ministry.
Elsewhere in the Gulf, Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry said the kingdom intercepted and destroyed two drones heading towards the Shaybah oil field in the southeast of the country. Kuwait’s defence ministry said the country’s air defences were working to intercept a missile and drone attack on Monday. On Sunday, the Gulf nation was targeted by seven missiles and five drones, according to figures released by authorities.
Several people were also injured on Sunday in an Iranian drone attack on Bahrain’s island of Sitra, the interior ministry said, as journalists reported two loud explosions. In the UAE, the National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority said in a statement on X that air defences responded to “a missile threat”.
The United States said on Sunday that it was ordering embassy staff to leave Saudi Arabia as Iran strikes the kingdom. The State Department said in a travel advisory it had “ordered non-emergency US government employees and US government employee family members to leave Saudi Arabia due to safety risks”. Drones hit the US embassy in the Saudi capital Riyadh last week, and drones have also caused damage at the US embassies in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.
Gulf countries have borne much of Tehran’s response after the United States and Israel launched a massive air campaign against Iran on February 28. Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian has warned that the Islamic republic “will be forced to respond” against its neighbours if their territory is used to attack it. — AFP
