Gulf states targeted: UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia respond to Iranian missile and drone strikes

Dubai: Emirati and Kuwaiti air defences were reported to have responded to missile fire early on Friday, while Saudi forces intercepted multiple drone attacks, Gulf authorities said.

Bahrain’s interior ministry stated that shrapnel from what it described as “Iranian aggression” caused a fire at a warehouse, which was quickly brought under control, with no injuries reported. The ministry also confirmed that air raid sirens had been activated.

In Kuwait, the army said its air defences were “responding to hostile missile and drone threats,” while UAE state media reported similar incoming missile and drone threats originating from Iran.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, in a statement carried by the Tasnim news agency, claimed responsibility for targeting US forces at the UAE’s Al-Dhafra air base, as well as sites in Israel, using missiles and drones. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

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Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry said its forces intercepted and destroyed 10 drones in the country’s east and one in the north in less than two hours.

The attacks come amid an escalation of Iranian strikes on Gulf energy infrastructure. On Thursday, drones hit a Saudi oil refinery on the Red Sea and caused fires at two facilities in Kuwait. On Wednesday, significant damage was reported at the world’s largest gas hub, Qatar’s Ras Laffan Industrial City, as Iran retaliated for Israeli strikes on its South Pars gas field.

(PTI)