DUBAI: Iranian drones and missiles targeted Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan on Friday, hours after the US military said it had wrapped up its 13th night of strikes against Iran.
Gulf states and Jordan have come under frequent fire over the past week as the US and Iran exchange escalating strikes in fighting that began with a struggle over control of the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
Bahrain activated its sirens early Friday, warning residents to shelter from detected fire hours after the US military said it had wrapped up its 13th night of strikes against Iran.
Bahrain’s air defenses “intercepted and destroyed” a number of “air strikes,” the kingdom’s military said.
“The deliberate use of missiles and drones to target civilians and private property is a blatant violation of International Humanitarian Law,” the Bahrain Defense Force said.
The Kuwaiti Army said its air defenses were “confronting attacks by hostile drones” fired from Iran.
Jordan said that its air defense systems and Royal Jordanian Air Force aircraft intercepted and shot down seven missiles and six drones launched from Iran.
There were no casualties or damage caused during the operation, the state news agency reported.
Earlier, Iran’s military said it carried out drone strikes against several American military facilities and bases in Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait in retaliation for the latest US attacks.
The statements claimed Iranian drones targeted US stores at the Isa Air Base in Bahrain, aircraft hangars at Al-Azraq base in Jordan, and sites in Kuwait.
There was no confirmation from the US of any targeting of its facilities or personnel.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards, meanwhile, said they targeted a data center in Bahrain belonging to Amazon, according to state media, though neither the US tech giant nor Bahrain have commented on the claim, AFP reported.
State media also reported on Friday that the US had struck a Revolutionary Guards’ base in the northern province of Gilan.
“This morning, an IRGC naval forces headquarters in Zibakenar was targeted by American enemy projectiles, which damaged some of the equipment in the complex,” said Ali Bagheri, deputy governor for the province, quoted by the official IRNA news agency.
The previous day, Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels said they targeted two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea, potentially widening the Iran war as international oil topped $100 a barrel.
Blasts were also reported Thursday on Iran’s Qeshm Island, home to stores of naval assets including drone boats that Iran can use to attack vessels on the Strait of Hormuz, as well as to the northwest near Andimeshk, Omidiyeh and Firuzabad.
Four people were killed and five wounded in a US missile attack on the outskirts of Ahvaz on the Karun River, Iranian state media said.
US Central Command said the latest barrage was designed to “further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten civilian mariners and commercial vessels transiting regional waters” as the Americans push to regain control over the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and gas transited in peacetime. It said the strikes ended shortly before 5 a.m. local time Friday.
Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi of Iraq, which has close ties to both the US and Iran, was in Tehran on Thursday to call for peace and dialogue, AP reported.
He promised not to allow Iraqi territory to be used for attacks on Iran, his office said. Al-Zaidi met with Trump earlier this month in Washington.
Houthis threaten to shut second key shipping route
Meanwhile, the Houthis threatened to shut down another key trade route with the world economy already reeling from Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
The Bab El-Mandeb Strait at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, is a vital shipping chokepoint connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.
Around 12 percent of the world’s trade, including a fourth of global container traffic, passes through there, moving between Europe and Asia via Egypt’s Suez Canal.
*With AFP and AP
