Source: CNN
Iran ramped up its attacks on oil facilities and tankers in the Persian Gulf Thursday morning as multiple Gulf states intercepted drones and missiles and the US, Israel and Iran continued to exchange strikes in the Middle East.
Israel said it identified missiles launched from Iran toward its territory. Sirens sounded in central and northern Israel. Iran confirmed it launched a “new wave of missiles” at Israel, according to state media, which claimed Hezbollah also joined in the attacks.
In Lebanon, eight people were killed in an airstrike on Beirut’s Ramlet Al-Baida coast early Thursday, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health. Israel said it launched another large-scale “wave of strikes” across the country targeting Hezbollah launchers and infrastructure in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahieh.
Iraq: Video geolocated by CNN shows smoke rising from the Erbil International Airport in Iraq’s Kurdistan region. Earlier, two foreign oil tankers were attacked by Iranian drones in Iraq’s territorial waters. At least one person was killed and 38 others rescued. Iran claimed responsibility, saying an underwater drone blew up the tankers.
Bahrain said Iranian attacks targeted fuel tanks at a facility in the kingdom’s northern Muharraq Governorate. The interior ministry warned residents in four nearby towns and villages to remain in their homes and close their windows to avoid the effects from smoke and fire.
Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Defense said it had intercepted and destroyed more than 20 drones in the eastern parts of the country, home to the kingdom’s oil fields.
The United Arab Emirates said its air defenses were responding to “incoming missile and drone threats from Iran.” Dubai’s government media office said a drone fell on a building in the vicinity of Creek Harbour and a minor fire was brought under control.
Kuwait’s armed forces said its air defenses intercepted “a number of hostile drones” at dawn after they breached the country’s airspace in the north. Two people were injured after a drone targeted a residential building in southern Kuwait, according to the defense ministry. The attack caused a fire that was later extinguished, Kuwait News Agency reported.
