Language Settings
Select Website Language

Photos Reveal Heavy Damage at US Gulf Bases From Iran Strikes

4 hours ago

Leaked images from active military personnel show a torn-apart radar plane and flattened buildings at US bases in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait hit by Iran.

A set of leaked photographs has laid bare the scale of destruction that Iranian strikes inflicted on American military sites in the Gulf, showing a radar aircraft torn in two, wrecked trailers and buildings reduced to rubble. CBS News, the US partner of the BBC, said the pictures were handed over by serving military personnel and were taken at bases in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The images carry no dates.

The release landed one day after the Pentagon's inspector general reported that Iranian attacks had wrecked or damaged hundreds of buildings and structures across US installations in the region during the recent fighting. That watchdog assessment listed sites in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman and Jordan, and pointed to substantial equipment losses.

One serving member of the military, whose name CBS withheld, said the true toll had been kept from the public. "This is major damage to our bases that hasn't been communicated to the American public," the person said. "We're standing there with our eyes closed getting punched in the face."

Asked about the photos, the White House pointed the BBC toward US Central Command. Centcom had not replied to a request for comment. The BBC said it had not been able to verify the images independently.

A radar jet split in half

The most striking picture shows a Boeing E-3 Sentry broken apart at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, roughly 62 miles (100km) to the south-east of Riyadh. The aircraft's tail is buckled into a twisted heap of metal. The E-3, known as an Awacs, works as a flying early-warning system, scanning for and following possible threats from long distances.

Although the leaked photo carries no date, BBC Verify said it had already authenticated a comparable image of what appears to be the same plane back in March. Around that time, a US official told Reuters that an Iranian strike on the base had wounded 12 American personnel, two of them badly.

Wrecked trailers and a gutted building in Kuwait

Two of the images are said to come from Camp Buehring in Kuwait. One shows a row of crumpled trailers. The other captures a large tent-like structure ripped to tatters, with smoke pouring from the wreckage.

A separate photograph depicts a four-storey building battered by a strike at Camp Arifjan, also in Kuwait. Damage at that site was reported earlier in the year, including harm to satellite communications equipment, though it remains unclear whether the new picture stems from that same episode.

Warnings over US defences

Brian Katulis, who served in national security roles under both Democratic and Republican presidents, said the pictures pointed to a serious failure in protection. The visible destruction, he argued, proved that "America had not adequately prepared its defences.

Katulis, now a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, went further, claiming there was "strong evidence that US adversaries like China and Russia may have helped Iran in targeting." He added that "the Trump administration has done nothing to address these vulnerabilities."

The photographs, combined with the inspector general's findings, sketch a picture of harm that stretches well beyond the handful of sites shown. Between the leaked images and the watchdog's tally of damaged structures across eight countries, the strikes appear to have reached deep into the network of bases the United States relies on across the Gulf.

Iranian strikes US bases, Prince Sultan Air Base, Camp Buehring Kuwait, Camp Arifjan, Boeing E-3 Sentry, Pentagon watchdog report, US Central Command, Middle East conflict

Click here to Read More
Previous Article
Clearlake Takes Full Control of Chelsea as Boehly Sells Stake
Next Article
AI Slowdown No Threat to Data Centers, Says Digital Realty CEO

Related World Updates:

Are you sure? You want to delete this comment..! Remove Cancel

Comments (0)

    Leave a comment