Tehran/Cairo, March 5, (dpa/GA) – Dozens of drones and missiles targeted Gulf countries on Thursday, demonstrating Tehran’s continued firepower, nearly a week after Israel and the United States launched a war on the Islamic Republic.
The United Arab Emirates said its air defence systems had intercepted six ballistic missiles, one of which landed on Emirati soil.
UAE air defences detected 131 drones, most of which were also intercepted, according to the Defence Ministry. The missiles and drones are believed to have originated in Iran.
In the capital Abu Dhabi, six people were injured by falling debris during the interception of drones, according to the city’s media office.
More than 1,000 drones have been intercepted in the UAE since the outbreak of the Iran war on Saturday, the Defence Ministry said. In addition, almost 200 missiles have been fired in the direction of the Emirates.
The Qatari Defence Ministry said 13 of 14 missiles fired towards the country were intercepted, and one missile fell into the water. In addition, four Iranian drones were intercepted. Several explosions were heard again in the capital, Doha.
The US embassy in Qatar said the Interior Ministry, had ordered the evacuation of residents near the embassy building.
The World Health Organization said on Thursday, it had halted operations at one of its largest logistics centres and supply warehouses for global emergency operations, due to the war in the Middle East.
The facility, located in Dubai, has suspended all activities due to the security situation, WHO regional director Hanan Balkhy said.
Sites in Iraq, Azerbaijan, Turkey were also targeted.
Iranian armed forces said meanwhile that they had attacked targets in Iraq.
Iranian state radio reported that a US base in Erbil, the capital of the autonomous region of Kurdistan, had been attacked by a drone strike.
The report stated that “considerable damage” had been caused by the strike, although there was no confirmation of this.
For the first time in the conflict, a suspected Iranian drone attack hit Azerbaijani territory, prompting the country’s armed forces to be placed on alert, state news agency AZERTAC reported.
Drones struck the airport and an area near a school in Nakhchivan, an autonomous exclave. Iran has denied responsibility for the attack.
Iran also rejected accusations that it had launched a ballistic missile toward NATO-member Turkey.
The Iranian General Staff of the Armed Forces said Turkey’s accounts of a missile fired toward Turkish territory were false and were “firmly rejected.”
Iranian security forces targeted by Israeli attacks
The Israeli air force completed a 12th wave of attacks on Iran, a military spokesman said on Thursday.
In addition to targets in Tehran, the strikes also hit the headquarters of a special unit of Iran’s security forces in Alborz province, west of the capital, he said.
Facilities of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp were among the targets in Tehran, he said. They included dozens of command centres, weapons stores and arms production sites, he added.
The country’s major arms manufacturers have been ordered to accelerate production of offensive and defensive weapons systems, a Defence Ministry spokeswoman said on Thursday.
Iranian media reported on Thursday that at least 1,230 people had been killed since the war began, including both civilians and military personnel.
The figure could not be independently verified.
The Red Crescent humanitarian aid organization reported that 105 civilian facilities had been severely damaged since the war began on Saturday.
Iran fired another round of missiles at Israel on Thursday afternoon, the Israeli military said, adding that air defence systems were activated to intercept the projectiles.
Warning sirens sounded across large parts of the country, and Tel Aviv residents reported hearing explosions.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said earlier that they had fired four advanced Khorramshahr 4 missiles toward central Tel Aviv.
Israeli television channel N12 reported that an Israeli passenger aircraft which was on approach to Tel Aviv’s airport, had to abort its landing due to Iranian attacks.
GNA