Blasts echoed over Bahrain on Sunday as the tiny Gulf nation was rattled by the second Iranian drone attack in three days, ending a long lull in strikes during the Middle East war.
Sirens rang out, and authorities posted several alerts on social media urging residents to seek shelter, their first warnings since September.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they carried out a drone attack on a US radar system in the desert island state, which hosts US military facilities including a major naval base.
Bahrain’s military said it intercepted the attacks, “preventing them from reaching their intended targets”. The foreign ministry said air defence systems shot down Iranian drones.
“It’s exactly what I was hoping wouldn’t happen: Iranian attacks starting again, with all the worry and uncertainty that go with them,” resident Hayat Ibrahim, 65, told AFP.
Iran also fired drones at Bahrain on Friday — the first strikes since September against countries in the energy-rich Gulf, which has been heavily targeted in the eight-month war.
Explosions could be heard around 4am (6am PKT) on Sunday, an AFP journalist said, with residents reporting a second series of blasts around 6:30am.
The interior ministry, posting on Xcalled on “residents to remain calm, proceed to the nearest safe location, and follow news through official channels”.
Mohammed Abdallah, a shopkeeper in the capital, Manama, heard the strikes overnight. “I was hoping this period was behind us and wouldn’t happen again,” he said.
‘Settling scores’
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said the drones targeted a US radar system at a helicopter base, according to a statement carried by the Iranian state broadcaster.
“The US air defence radar system at the Al-Riffa helicopter base in Bahrain was targeted by six drones belonging to the IRGC Aerospace Force,” the Guards said in a statement posted by the state broadcaster on Telegram.
“The Strait of Hormuz is closed, and any aggression by the American enemy will be met with an even harsher and more forceful response,” it added.
Bahrain “rejects turning its territory into an arena for settling scores and holds Iran fully responsible for these attacks”, a foreign ministry statement said.
During more than eight months of war, Iran has restricted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz oil trade route and struck infrastructure including airports, seaports, energy facilities, and US assets across the region.
The Gulf countries have weathered thousands of Iranian drones and missiles since the war began on February 28.
On Friday, following this month’s US strikes on Qeshm island in Hormuz, the Revolutionary Guards said their forces targeted a US early warning radar system in Bahrain.
The US military’s Central Command (Centcom) said it shot down two Iranian drones in Friday’s attack, reporting no casualties or damage.
Centcom, which oversees American military operations in the region, said last month that it had helped Gulf countries export 1.5 billion barrels of oil since the summer via Hormuz.
US President Donald Trump, whose steep reverse in midterm elections was partly blamed on the Iran war, plans to discuss the conflict at a trilateral meeting with his Chinese and Russian counterparts this week, an official said Friday.
Months of diplomacy have failed to resolve the war, which began with surprise US-Israeli strikes that assassinated Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Source: www.dawn.com
