Iran has responded to a wave of US-Israeli air strikes by launching retaliatory missile and drone attacks on multiple countries hosting some of the tens of thousands of US troops deployed across the Middle East, notably in the Gulf Arab states.
Bahrain
The tiny Gulf kingdom hosts an installation known as Naval Support Activity Bahrain, where the US Navy's Fifth Fleet and US Naval Forces Central Command headquarters are based.
Bahrain's deep-water port can accommodate the largest US military vessels, such as aircraft carriers, and the US Navy has used the base in the country since 1948, when the facility was operated by Britain's Royal Navy.
Several US ships have their home port in Bahrain, including anti-mine vessels and logistical support ships.
Bahrain said the service centre of the US Fifth Fleet – a base for American naval forces in the region – had been targeted in a missile attack. Video footage showed a thick, grey plume of smoke rising from near the island state's coastline as sirens wailed.
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Iraq
The United States still has troops in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region as part of the international coalition against the Islamic State group, but their mission is due to end by September under a deal between Washington and Baghdad.
US forces have already completed their withdrawal from facilities in federal Iraq – whose government is an ally of Iran but also a strategic US partner – under the same agreement.
AFP journalists reported explosions near the US consulate in Erbil – the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan – on Saturday, while Iraq's powerful pro-Iran Kataeb Hezbollah group threatened attacks on US bases.
Kurdish security forces later said the US-led coalition had intercepted multiple drones and missiles over Erbil.
Jordan
The United States reportedly deployed dozens of military aircraft to Jordan's Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in the run-up to the strikes on Iran.
A Jordanian military official said the kingdom's forces shot down two ballistic missiles targeting its territory on Saturday, without specifying who launched them.
Jordan's Public Security Directorate later said there were "no casualties but only material damage".
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Kuwait
Kuwait hosts several US bases, including Camp Arifjan, the location of the forward headquarters for the US Army component of the military's Central Command (CENTCOM). The US Army also has stocks of equipment and supplies in the country.
Ali al-Salem Air Base hosts the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing, which the military describes as the "primary airlift hub and gateway for delivering combat power to joint and coalition forces" in the region.
The United States has also deployed drones, including MQ-9 Reapers, to Kuwait.
Kuwait's defense ministry said its forces intercepted missiles targeting the air base on Saturday while Italy's foreign minister said an Iranian attack caused "significant damage" to the runway of the facility, which also hosts Italian air force personnel.
A drone also targeted Kuwait's international airport, causing light injuries to several workers and limited material damage, the Kuwaiti state news agency reported on Saturday
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Qatar
Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar, the largest US facility in the region, includes the forward components of CENTCOM as well as the command's air forces and special operations forces.
It also hosts rotating combat aircraft and the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing, which the military says includes "airlift, aerial refueling intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, and aeromedical evacuation assets".
Iran fired missiles at al-Udeid last June following US strikes targeting Iranian nuclear facilities.
Explosions were heard over central Doha and near al-Udeid on Saturday, and the Gulf emirate said an Iranian missile attack targeted its territory.
Several Iranian cities hit by US-Israeli millitary campaign
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© France 24
06:37
Syria
The United States for years maintained troops in Syria as part of international efforts against the Islamic State group, which emerged from the country's civil war to overrun large parts of that country and neighbouring Iraq.
US forces are currently in the process of withdrawing from Syria, and three sources told AFP earlier this week that the American exit would be completed within a month.
Syrian state media said four people were killed by an Iranian missile that hit the country's south on Saturday.
United Arab Emirates
Al-Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates hosts the US 380th Air Expeditionary Wing, a force that is composed of 10 squadrons of aircraft and also includes drones such as MQ-9 Reapers.
Combat aircraft have rotated through al-Dhafra, which also hosts the US Air Force hub for "advanced air warfare training".
Two witnesses told AFP on Saturday they saw smoke rising from al-Dhafra base shortly after explosions were heard in the UAE capital on Saturday.
The UAE said it had intercepted two rounds of Iranian missile attacks on Saturday, with debris from the first wave killing a civilian in Abu Dhabi.
AFP correspondents later heard a loud explosion in Dubai later on Saturday and one of them saw a plume of smoke rising from the city.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP and Reuters)
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