MIDDLE EAST MONTORING DESK ISLAMABAD BY EDITOR TAZEEN AKHTAR
Iran has targeted what Iran calls the United States assests in 8 countries of the Gulf including Saudi Arabaia Prince Sultan airbase in the capital Riyadh city, UAE an airport, Qatar a US base, Bahrain naval US base, Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan and Syria. This act of Iran has made difficult for her friends to support her in this hardest moment of the history of the existence of the Revolutionary government in Tehran. It is like Iran is out of control and creating a mess in the region and making the war impossible to survive even, let alone winning it.
Noteworthy here is, none of the hit Gulf countries offered land to US for strikes against Iran. However Irani strikes have exposed these states that they are somehow standing with the United States and Israel. Iran made it clear before hitting the “assets” there that after Israel US joint attack on Iran, all assets of US in Middle East have become legitimate targets for Iran. UAE among these states enjoys full fledged dipomatic relations, direct flights, economic cooperation with Israel.
The only person who lost his life in what Iran says hitting US asset in UAE is a Pakistani worker who was there to earn living for his family.
The foreign ministers of UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia called Pakistani DPM/FM Ishaq Dar on 28 Feb and discussed the evolving situtation in the region. A day before than, Irani FM called Dar and the sides reviewed the situation after joint attacks by Israel and USA.
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Pakistan Condemns attacks by Both sides | Israel and Iran
Pakistan regrets the breakdown of talks and outbreak of hostilities in the Middle East. Pakistan condemns the unwarranted attacks against the Islamic Republic of Iran. These attacks come at a time when diplomatic efforts were underway to reach a peaceful and negotiated solution. Such a course of action will undermine the peace and stability of the entire region, with far reaching consequences.
Pakistan also strongly condemns the attacks by Iran against the brotherly countries of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE, and stands in solidarity with all these brotherly countries and underscores the need to exercise maximum restraint. The unprovoked attacks constitute blatant violations of the sovereignty of the brotherly Gulf states.
Pakistan also condemns the unfortunate death of a Pakistani national in the UAE during this dastardly attack. We urge all sides to refrain from any further actions that may undermine the security and territorial integrity of other regional countries.
Pakistan urges the need for upholding the international law and principles of the UN Charter. Pakistan emphasises upon all sides to resume diplomacy and find a peaceful and negotiated solution to the crisis.
Aljazeera reported that Iran has targeted United States assets across the Gulf Arab states in retaliation for a huge joint attack on Iran by the US and Israel, sparking fears of a regional conflagration.
The Iranian government on Saturday confirmed its attacks on several targets, according to the Fars news agency, including Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, where airbases with US assets are hosted.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed all Israeli and US military targets in the Middle East have been struck “by the powerful blows of Iranian missiles”.
“This operation will continue relentlessly until the enemy is decisively defeated,” it said. All US assets throughout the region are considered legitimate targets for Iran’s army, it added.
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Hamid Ghanbari told Al Jazeera that Iran has the right to defend itself and regrets any humanitarian loss caused by the current military escalation.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a letter sent to the United Nations Security Council and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that Iran would “continue to exercise its right of self-defence decisively and without hesitation until the aggression ceases fully and unequivocally”.
Syria
Meanwhile, Syrian state media reported that a missile explosion killed four people and injured numerous others in an industrial area of Suwayda, without noting the source of the missile.
President Trump only a few days in a talk said that President of Syria Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa is his man and he was brought by US.
United Arab Emirates
At least one person was killed in Abu Dhabi, the UAE capital, after several missiles launched from Iran were intercepted, according to the country’s state news agency, which provided no further details.
Meanwhile, a fire broke out near a hotel on Dubai’s Palm Islands attraction, with huge plumes of smoke seen from a distance as multiple blasts echoed throughout the day.
The Dubai media office later confirmed an “incident” in a building in the Palm Jumeirah area that resulted in a fire and four people injured.
Bahrain
Bahrain said a missile attack targeted the headquarters of the US Navy’s 5th Fleet, which are hosted in the capital, Manama.
The government called it a “treacherous attack” and “a blatant violation of the kingdom’s sovereignty and security”.
Later, footage circulating on social media appeared to show an Iranian Shahed drone smashing through a tower block located near the headquarters, setting the building ablaze.
The Interior Ministry said several residential buildings in Manama, had been hit, reporting on X that civil defence was engaged in firefighting and rescue operations at the affected sites.
Shaikh Abdullah bin Rashid Al Khalifa, Bahrain’s ambassador to the United States, spoke of attacks against “sites within the Kingdom”, calling them a “blatant violation of sovereignty” in a post on X.
Kuwait
Kuwait’s Defence Ministry said that Ali al-Salem Air Base came under attack by a number of ballistic missiles, all of which were intercepted by Kuwaiti air defence systems.
Abdullah al-Rajhi, spokesperson for the General Authority of Civil Aviation in the State of Kuwait, said that a drone targeted Kuwait International Airport, leaving a number of employees with minor injuries and causing material damage to the passenger building.
The official KUNA news agency cited a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs saying that Kuwait maintains its right to defend itself.
Qatar
In Qatar, the Defence Ministry says it “thwarted” attacks on the country in accordance with a “pre-approved security plan”, intercepting “all missiles” before they reached the country’s territory.
A long-range early warning radar in northern Qatar was targeted by an Iranian missile, according to sources who spoke to Al Jazeera. No injuries were reported.
The Qatari Foreign Ministry said that the targeting of Qatar by a neighbour “cannot be accepted under any justification or pretext”, pointing out that it had always distanced itself from regional conflicts.
Qatar was targeted twice last year, when Iran mounted an attack on the Al Udeid US base in June, and Israel struck a Hamas meeting in Doha in September.
Saudi Arabia
A statement by the Saudi Foreign Ministry confirmed that Iran targeted Riyadh and the kingdom’s eastern region, adding that the attacks were repelled.
“These attacks cannot be justified under any pretext or in any way, and they came despite the Iranian authorities knowing that the Kingdom had confirmed that it would not allow its airspace and territory to be used to target Iran,” it added.
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Iraq
An Al Jazeera correspondent reported that Erbil Airport in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq was targeted twice on Saturday.
A drone attack attempted to target Erbil International Airport, but air defences intercepted and shot it down, they added.
The United States still has troops in Iraq‘s autonomous Kurdish region as part of an international coalition against ISIL (ISIS), which is due to be wound up by September under a deal between Washington and Baghdad.
Meanwhile, a drone strike targeted a headquarters of the Kataeb Hezbollah armed group southwest of Baghdad, killing two, according to The Associated Press news service.
Later, there were reports of more strikes hitting Jurf al-Nasr, an Iraqi military base housing the former paramilitary group, which is now integrated into the regular army, according to a source who spoke to news agency AFP.
The Iraqi government’s security media cell announced that “at 7.25 pm (1625 GMT), the Jurf al-Nasr area … was targeted by two air strikes”.
A Kataib Hezbollah official confirmed a new attack had occurred.
Kataib Hezbollah warned in a statement, “we will soon begin attacking American bases in response to their aggression.”
Transportation
Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and the UAE all temporarily closed their airspace and condemned Iran’s attacks on their territories.
Sea vessels operating in the Gulf said they had received messages on the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, according to the UK Maritime Trade Operations agency, cited by news agency Reuters.
The key oil export route connects the biggest Gulf oil producers, such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates, with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea.
Mediator Oman spared
Al Jazeera’s Zein Basravi, reporting from Doha, said the only country in the Gulf Cooperation Council that Iran has not struck today thus far is Oman.
Oman has for years served as a liaison between Iran and other nations in the region and beyond. It has played a central role in recent indirect talks between Iran and the US in Oman and Geneva.
Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi on Friday had voiced optimism that peace was “within reach” as Iran had agreed during the talks never to stockpile enriched uranium. Albusaidi described the development as a major breakthrough. Hours later, Israel and the US attacked, and those talks are now dead and buried.
Albusaidi expressed “dismay” at the outbreak of violence and urged Washington to “not get sucked in further” into the conflict. “This is not your war,” he said.
The GCC is an alliance of six countries in the Arabian Peninsula: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, established in 1981 to promote economic, security, cultural and social cooperation.
“Here in Doha, in the last few hours, we’ve heard at least a dozen explosions. The majority of them sound like they were Patriot defence missiles intercepting incoming Iranian missiles,” Basravi said.
“As far as Iran is concerned, with the US and Israel firing the first shot in this latest go-round, everything is now probably fair game,” he added.
Arab States Condemn Iranian Attacks
Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry condemned what it called the “blatant and cowardly Iranian attacks that targeted the Riyadh Region and the Eastern Province, which were successfully intercepted.”
The strikes “came despite the Iranian authorities’ knowledge that the Kingdom had affirmed it would not allow its airspace or territory to be used to target Iran,” the Saudi ministry added.
Qatar also condemned the Iranian strikes and suggested it may retaliate. Doha “reserves its full right to respond to this attack in accordance with the provisions of international law and in a manner proportionate to the nature of the aggression,” Qatar’s foreign ministry said.
The Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported that at least one person was killed in Abu Dhabi from debris from an Iranian projectile.
Saudi Arabia also condemned Iranian attacks targeting its neighbors, in a statement by the kingdom’s official press agency.
“The kingdom strongly condemns and denounces in the strongest terms the brutal Iranian aggression and the blatant violation of the sovereignty of the United Arab Emirates, the Kingdom of Bahrain, the State of Qatar, the State of Kuwait, and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,” said the statement.
The attacks on Gulf states took place hours after Israel and the U.S. launched what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has labeled “Operation Roaring Lion” and the U.S. Defense Department calls “Operation Epic Fury,” a joint military campaign against the Islamist regime in Iran.
The Emirati Ministry of Defense announced that the UAE today was subjected to “a blatant attack involving Iranian ballistic missiles,” and that interceptors “successfully intercepted a number of missiles,” WAM reported.
The fallen debris “resulted in one civilian death of an Asian nationality. The authorities confirmed that the security situation in the UAE remains stable and that all concerned entities are monitoring developments around the clock,” the statement said.
