Iran on Monday fired about a dozen short and medium-range ballistic missiles at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, the largest US military facility in the Middle East, and home to thousands of US troops, reports CNN.
US and Iraqi officials said Iran gave notice that the strike was coming, and Patriot missile batteries were able to shoot down all but one of the incoming projectiles. No one was killed or wounded in Qatar.
The base — about 20 miles southwest of the Qatari capital of Doha — was largely empty of US aircraft at the time of the Iranian strikes, as satellite photos show they had been flown out before the US B-2 bomber strike on Iran at the weekend.
Al Udeid is vital to the US military’s position in the Middle East.
It’s the forward headquarters of the Tampa, Florida-based US Central Command, which controls military activities across the region.
Other key tenants are Central Command’s Combined Air Operations Center and the US Air Force’s 379th Air Expeditionary Wing, which calls itself “the regional epicenter of power projection.”
Besides hosting rotating combat aircraft, the bases has key logistics, refueling and medical facilities.
Al Udeid has been active in supporting US operations in conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.
According to the US State Department, Qatar has supported base development with an $8 billion investment since 2003.
US president Trump himself visited the base during his Middle East trip last month.
Bd-pratidin English/TR