\n<\/p>\n
Iran has attacked United States forces stationed at the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, saying it was retaliating against the US strikes on Iran\u2019s nuclear sites.<\/p>\n
The attacks on Monday were confirmed by Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in a statement addressed to the Iranian people.<\/p>\n
Consecutive flares, coupled with loud explosions, were seen in Qatar\u2019s capital, Doha, and other parts of the country.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what to know about the Iranian attacks in Qatar.<\/p>\n
The IRGC, in its statement, said it launched a \u201cpowerful and devastating missile attack\u201d as part of Operation Annunciation of Victory in response to the \u201cblatant military aggression\u201d by the US on Iran\u2019s nuclear facilities.<\/p>\n
The IRGC also said its \u201cdecisive action\u201d sent a message to the White House and its allies that Iran would, \u201cunder no circumstances, leave any aggression against its territorial integrity, sovereignty, or national security unanswered\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cUS bases and mobile military assets in the region are not points of strength, but rather major vulnerabilities,\u201d the statement warned.<\/p>\n
Iran said it targeted the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar because it \u201cserves as the command centre of the US Air Force and is the largest strategic asset of the American terrorist army in West Asia\u201d.<\/p>\n
Tehran also noted that the missile strike was conducted away from residential areas in Qatar.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis action does not pose any threat to the friendly and brotherly country, Qatar, and its noble people, and the Islamic Republic of Iran remains committed to maintaining and continuing warm and historic relations with Qatar,\u201d Iran\u2019s Supreme National Security Council said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Al Udeid is the largest US military base in the Middle East, housing approximately 10,000 US troops.<\/p>\n
The 24-hectare (60-acre) base, located in the desert southwest of Doha, was set up in 1996. It serves as the forward headquarters for US Central Command, which directs US military operations in a huge swath of territory stretching from Egypt in the west to Kazakhstan in the east.<\/p>\n
The base houses the Qatar Emiri Air Force, the US Air Force, the United Kingdom\u2019s Royal Air Force and other foreign forces.<\/p>\n
A US defence official, quoted by the Reuters news agency, said that \u201cAl Udeid Air Base was attacked by short-range and medium-range ballistic missiles originating from Iran\u201d.<\/p>\n
Qatar\u2019s Ministry of Defence, meanwhile, said its air defence systems successfully intercepted the Iranian missiles targeting the base.<\/p>\n
Qatar said it received information that bases in the region are being targeted, including Al Udeid Air Base.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt 7:30pm (1630 GMT), we received reports that seven missiles were launched from Iran toward Al Udeid Air Base,\u201d Qatari officials said in a briefing later on Monday.<\/p>\n
They confirmed that\u00a0Al Udeid Air Base was evacuated before the attack.<\/p>\n
Its Foreign Ministry decried the attack, saying it is a \u201cviolation of Qatar\u2019s sovereignty and airspace and the UN charter\u201d, and that Doha reserves the right to respond.<\/p>\n
Qatar\u2019s Defence Ministry confirmed that the incident resulted in no deaths or injuries.<\/p>\n
In a later press briefing, Qatar\u2019s Ministry of Interior\u00a0confirmed that a total of 19 missiles were fired from Iran. It added that only one of those hit Al Udeid Air Base, but caused no casualties.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are proud of the response to today\u2019s attack and no damage was reported,\u201d Qatari officials said.<\/p>\n
In the hours leading up to the attack, the embassies of the US and the UK in Qatar released statements urging citizens in Qatar to shelter in place until further notice.<\/p>\n
However, the advisory was lifted a few hours after the attacks had ceased.<\/p>\n
Several British, American and European schools in the country said they would remain closed on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Qatar\u2019s Ministry of Education said all exams set to take place on Tuesday had been rescheduled for Wednesday.<\/p>\n
During its briefing, Qatar\u2019s Ministry of Interior said the situation in the country was \u201ccompletely stable\u201d and that all authorities are working in coordination to ensure the safety of the public.<\/p>\n
Jabr al-Naimi from Qatar\u2019s Public Security said the safety of citizens, residents, and residents is of the \u201cutmost priority\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will not allow any international or external crisis or conflict to affect our life in Qatar,\u201d he said in a televised press conference.<\/p>\n
Qatar\u2019s Foreign Ministry also said life is going back to \u201cnormal\u201d following the attack, and has reiterated its call for warring parties to negotiate.<\/p>\n
Qatar shut down its airspace temporarily, saying it was \u201cpart of the measures taken to ensure the safety of residents and visitors.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was reopened more than five hours later.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Iran has attacked United States forces stationed at the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, saying it was retaliating against the US strikes on Iran\u2019s nuclear sites. The attacks on Monday were confirmed by Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in a statement addressed to the Iranian people. Consecutive flares, coupled with loud explosions, were<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9513,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[361,1839,1237,267,84,266,150,1840],"class_list":{"0":"post-9512","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics","8":"tag-air","9":"tag-attacks","10":"tag-base","11":"tag-conflict","12":"tag-iran","13":"tag-israeliran","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-qatar"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}