Several Gulf Arab states said they were targeted by Iranian missiles on Saturday after Tehran pledged to retaliate against strikes by the United States and Israel, bringing conflict to a part of the Arab world that prides itself on relative safety.
State media in the United Arab Emirates said one person had been killed in Abu Dhabi, but gave no details.
Kuwait, Qatar, the UAE, and Jordan, all of which have a U.S. military presence, said they had intercepted the Iranian missiles.
“All occupied territories and the criminal U.S. bases in the region have been struck by the powerful blows of Iranian missiles. This operation will continue relentlessly until the enemy is decisively defeated,” Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said.
LOUD BOOMS, GREY SMOKE
Bahrain confirmed an attack inside its territory and said a service center of the U.S. Fifth Fleet had been struck. Video from a Reuters witness showed a plume of grey smoke rising near the small island nation’s coast as sirens wailed.
Loud booms were heard across Abu Dhabi, according to five witnesses including two Reuters correspondents. Some residents received a phone alert telling them to shelter in the closest secure building and stay away from windows because of missile threats.
One witness told Reuters she heard five booms in rapid succession that caused windows in a house near Abu Dhabi’s Corniche to vibrate. Other witnesses in the Al Dhafra and Bateen areas heard loud booms as well.
Fighter jets could be seen flying around the Yas Island area of Abu Dhabi on Saturday afternoon.
In Qatar, the military said in a statement that it had intercepted incoming Iranian missiles before they reached Qatari territory after “joint coordination”. Several successive waves of blasts were heard in the Qatari capital Doha.
After the U.S. Embassy issued a warning to take shelter in Doha, many residents carried on their usual activities. Shoppers were in supermarkets, beachgoers headed to the seaside and a yellow double-decker tour bus filled with tourists drove through the city’s West Bay district.
Later, when the government pushed a shelter-in-place warning to mobile phones, fewer people were seen out in the streets and traffic thinned.
The Kuwaiti army says it dealt with missiles in Kuwaiti airspace, while Jordan said it had downed two Iranian ballistic missiles.
Global airlines suspended flights across the Middle East, with flight maps showing the airspace over Iran virtually empty.
-Reuters
