Iran targets Israeli embassy in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia intercepts missile

Multiple Gulf nations, Arab states, as well as Turkiye and Azerbaijan have been caught in the crosshairs of the war.

Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency has reported that overnight attacks on Bahrain’s capital, Manama, targeted the Financial Harbour Towers commercial complex, the location of the Israeli embassy in the city.

The first week of the United States-Israel war on Iran and Tehran’s retaliatory strikes on nations hosting US forces and assets has engulfed the region and beyond into a broader conflict.

The Reuters news agency reported Friday that an Iranian drone was intercepted and destroyed in the vicinity of the complex.

In a statement, the General Command of the Bahrain Defence Force said it had destroyed a total of 78 missiles and 143 drones targeting Bahraini territory in what it described as “treacherous” attacks by Iran.

The command said it “takes pride in the high level of combat readiness and vigilance shown by its personnel”. The military urged the public to shelter in their homes, only leaving “in cases of extreme necessity”.

Multiple Gulf nations, Arab states, as well as Turkiye and Azerbaijan have been caught in the crosshairs of the war.

In a statement, Kuwait’s army said its air defences are currently “dealing with hostile missile and drone attacks” that have breached its airspace.

Earlier, Iran’s army said its recent strikes in Kuwait targeted US bases and that more attacks will soon follow. “Over the past few hours, various types of destructive drones of the army’s ground forces have targeted American military bases in Kuwait in large numbers,” Iranian state TV cited the army as saying. “These attacks will continue in the coming hours.”

The Saudi Ministry of Defence on Friday said a cruise missile was intercepted and destroyed to the east of the country’s central al-Kharj governorate. The ministry provided no additional information.

The ministry also said later it had intercepted three drones to the east of the Riyadh region.

Additionally, the Qatari Ministry of Defence announced overnight that its air defence forces successfully intercepted a drone attack targeting the Al Udeid Air Base in Doha that hosts US assets.

Reporting from the Qatari capital, Doha, Al Jazeera’s Zein Basravi said, “At around 4am here in Doha (01:00 GMT), residents heard another barrage of loud explosions. Those were interceptions of drones coming in from Iran. The Interior Ministry confirmed that the Al Udeid Air Base was the target.

“On day five, we saw two ballistic missiles targeting the base, with one hitting and one intercepted. In terms of damage assessments, there’s no clear indication. Security is very tight around all these sensitive areas in Qatar at the moment,” he said.

“What we are seeing is a pattern of behaviour by Iran, not just in Doha but across the GCC, of trying to narrow in on soft US targets as well as US military bases. And what we see is that if they can’t hit, they continue to try daily. The concern is now in the coming hours and days that the strikes on Qatar will only continue, if not in the same frequency and volume, but consistently,” he added.

Earlier, authorities issued an alert warning that the security threat level had been elevated, requiring people to remain indoors and to stay away from windows and other exposed areas.

Several explosions rang out in Doha on Thursday.

European Union leaders expressed support for Arab countries in the Gulf as Iran continues to launch missile and drone attacks on targets across the region, in response to attacks by the US and Israel.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and other European leaders held talks with Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) officials on Thursday in Brussels, denouncing what they described as “Iran’s inexcusable attacks against the GCC countries”.

Elsewhere on Friday, air defences shot down several drones in the Jordanian city of Irbid, according to an Al Jazeera correspondent on the ground.