Iran appears to have expanded its retaliatory strikes to include the United Arab Emirates, according to Israeli military correspondent Doron Kadosh, who reported Friday that satellite images published this morning show four military hangars belonging to the United States Army destroyed at Al Dhafra Air Base near Abu Dhabi. Kadosh said the strike likely took place Thursday, in response to continued American strikes against Iran.
Iran Widens Target List
Four Hangars Gone: New Satellite Photos Show Iran Just Hit the UAE | WATCH
New satellite images reportedly show four US military hangars destroyed at Al Dhafra Air Base in the UAE, in what may be an expansion of Iran's retaliatory strikes.
According to Kadosh, Iran had avoided striking the UAE directly in recent weeks, concentrating its retaliatory fire instead on Bahrain, Kuwait, and Jordan. That pattern appeared to hold as recently as Thursday, when the UAE Foreign Ministry condemned what it called renewed Iranian drone and missile attacks on Bahrain, Kuwait, and Jordan, without describing any strike on Emirati territory itself. If Kadosh's report is accurate, it would mark a shift in Iranian targeting after weeks of relative restraint toward the UAE specifically.
Al Dhafra Air Base, located roughly 20 miles south of Abu Dhabi, has been struck repeatedly since Iran's retaliatory campaign began following the joint US-Israeli strikes that opened the war on February 28. The base hosts American, Emirati, and French forces, and has served as a hub for refueling, surveillance, and air defense operations in the Gulf. Satellite imagery analyzed by the Associated Press in March documented earlier damage to hangars at the base, and Al Jazeera's Open Source Unit identified additional hits on aircraft hangars there in April. The UAE has said it has intercepted the large majority of missiles and drones fired at it since the war began, while continuing to report periodic damage and casualties from projectiles that get through.
It remains unclear what, if anything, was inside the four hangars identified in Friday's images at the time of the reported strike.
