Drones hit American base in Iraq, explosions in Doha…

Iraqi forces shot down a drone attempting to attack a US military base near Baghdad International Airport, local media reported, as Iran continues to target US assets in Arab countries, with the region sinking deeper into war after six days.

According to reports, the drone attempted to strike Victoria Air Base overnight on Wednesday and was intercepted before reaching its target.

Videos that emerged last Thursday showed a drone crash in the Al-Bu’aitha area of ​​Baghdad in the presence of security personnel.

In another incident later Thursday, a boat hit a Bahamian-flagged oil tanker in the Iraqi port of Khor al-Zubair, causing damage and an oil spill, an Iraqi security source told Al Jazeera.

Later Thursday evening, Bahrain said an Iranian missile hit a state-run oil refinery. The fire was extinguished and the refinery was still operating. There were no reports of casualties.

The attacks came as tensions in the Middle East rose due to the ongoing conflict triggered by the United States and Israel launching a war against Iran.

Qatar’s Defense Ministry said Thursday that the country was targeted by several attacks, including 14 ballistic missiles and four drones from Iran.

Thirteen missiles were intercepted and one fell in Qatar’s territorial waters, a statement said. All drones were intercepted and no casualties were reported.

When numerous explosions were heard in the skies above Doha, Qatari authorities issued a “high” emergency alert to residents.

The country’s Interior Ministry has ordered the evacuation of residents living near the US embassy in Doha as a precautionary measure.

Al Jazeera’s Zein Basravi, reporting from the Qatari capital, said the US embassy complex occupies a “very large area” that is “in the heart of the city”.

Basravi added that the US embassies in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and the US consulate in Dubai, were all targeted by drones this week.

In the United Arab Emirates, six people were injured when debris fell from drones intercepted by air defense systems over Abu Dhabi, the emirate’s press office said.

In a post on X, the office said authorities responded to falling debris at two locations in the Industrial City district (ICAD II). Those affected, who were citizens of Pakistan and Nepal, suffered minor to moderate injuries from the debris.

New explosions were also heard in Bahrain. The Bahrain Defense Force said it had destroyed 75 missiles and 123 drones “targeting the Kingdom since the start of Iran’s brutal aggression,” in a post on its Instagram account.

The echoes of violence spread across the region, with attacks also reported in Saudi Arabia, Oman and Kuwait.

The Saudi Defense Ministry said the last drone sent to its territory was hit by a discharge near the al-Jawf region in the north of the country. This came after the ministry announced that it had intercepted three drones east of al-Kharj governorate.

Oman’s Oil Marketing Company said one of its storage tanks was damaged in an “accident”, which preliminary assessments said was only minor. The company said operations at the affected site had been halted, according to the Reuters news agency.

Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi called for an end to the war in a post on X. “Oman reaffirms its call for an immediate ceasefire and a return to responsible regional diplomacy,” he wrote. “There are off-ramps available. Let’s use them.”

Kuwait’s Interior Ministry said an explosion aboard an oil tanker occurred outside its territorial waters, more than 60 km (37 miles) from the port of Mubarak al-Kabeer.

The crew was safe, but the ship had taken on water and an oil spill could cause environmental damage.

On Wednesday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it launched 230 drones against several facilities hosting US troops in the Middle East, including a base in Erbil in northern Iraq and Ali Al Salem Air Base and Camp Arifjan in Kuwait.

The IRGC said the strikes were among its “first powerful steps” in the war, despite Iran having attacked Gulf Arab states for days since Israel and the United States launched their coordinated offensive on Saturday.

President Masoud Pezeshkian addressed Iran’s neighbors directly on Wednesday, saying Iran has tried to avoid war through diplomacy, but the US-Israeli attacks left it “no choice” but to retaliate.

“We respect your sovereignty,” the president said in two separate posts in Arabic and Persian on X.

Iran believes that security in the region must be achieved through collective effort, he added.

As Iran’s retaliatory attacks continued, so did the Israeli-American assault on Iran.

Faced with the continuation of the war, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei warned that European Union countries “will pay the price, sooner or later” if they remain silent about the joint attacks on Iran. Baghaei made the comments to Spanish broadcaster TVE.

However, at this stage there was little sign that European assets would be targeted in the same way as US and Arab assets.

Credit: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/5/drone-targets-us-base-in-iraq-as-iran-attacks-hit-region-amid-us-israel-war

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