Share and Follow
Footage shared by eyewitnesses on social media captured the dramatic scene of the Public Institution for Social Security building ablaze in Kuwait City on Sunday.
The Kuwaiti military announced on X, formerly known as Twitter, that civilian infrastructure suffered damage due to debris from “a wave of hostile drones.” The General Organization for Social Insurance confirmed that their main headquarters was among the sites hit.
Additionally, Kuwait reported that drones had targeted the fuel storage facilities at its international airport, raising concerns about escalating threats to critical infrastructure.
In recent days, several other nations in the region, including the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq, have also faced drone or missile attacks, highlighting a growing trend of aerial threats.
Amid these tensions, former U.S. President Donald Trump issued a warning via social media on Saturday, indicating that more Iranian officials might become targets in the ongoing conflict.
“Today Iran will be hit very hard!” he wrote on his Truth Social website, noting the apology by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Iran’s gulf neighbours were reporting a new wave of strikes on Sunday.Â
Iran struck a desalination plant in Bahrain as the war entered its ninth day, expanding the conflict to new types of targets across the region.
Such infrastructure is critical for drinking water supplies in the parched deserts of the Gulf.Â
The strike came after Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said a US airstrike damaged an Iranian desalination plant on Qeshm Island, warning that in doing so “the US set this precedent, not Iran”.
The US military has not acknowledged a strike on the plant.
In Lebanon, renewed Israeli strikes pushed the death toll there above 300 after Israel ordered large swathes of the country to evacuate ahead of an offensive aimed at stamping out Iran-supported forces there.
Ahead of the strike in Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates said on Sunday that debris from an aerial interception fell onto a vehicle and killed a driver.
Four people have now been killed in the UAE since the war began, all foreign nationals.
The UAE urged residents to stay indoors on Sunday morning (Sunday evening AEDT) as its military responded to a drone attack.
Saudi Arabia said it destroyed a drone headed toward its vast Shaybah oil field on Sunday and shot down four drones over the capital, Riyadh, including one aimed at the diplomatic quarter. Bahrain’s Interior Ministry said that missile fragments fell onto a road in Manama, injuring one person and causing damage to several shops.
Pezeshkian again struck a conciliatory tone on Sunday, calling Iran’s neighbours friends and brothers while accusing the US and Israel of using “manipulation” to sow discord between them in remarks aired on state television.
“We will not bow our heads to bullying, injustice or intrusion,” he said.
Pezeshkian and other Iranian leaders have underlined the limited powers exercised by the theocracy’s leaders over the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which controls ballistic missiles used to target Israel and other countries.
It answered only to Khamenei and appears to be picking its own targets. The president is one of three members of a leadership council that has overseen Iran since Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in the war’s opening airstrikes.
Israel and the United States launched the war on February 28, saying they were targeting Iran’s nuclear and missile programs and suggesting they sought to topple the government.
The conflict has since spread across the region, rattling global markets, disrupting air travel and leaving Iran’s leadership weakened by hundreds of Israeli and American airstrikes.
– Reported with Reuters, Associated Press and CNN
NEVER MISS A STORY: Get your breaking news and exclusive stories first by following us across all platforms.