Dozens wounded in Bahrain as Gulf suffers missile, drone attacks

Bahrain said Monday (9 March) that an Iranian drone attack on the island of Sitra injured 32 people overnight, as Gulf nations reported new attacks with Tehran pressing its retaliatory strikes across the region.

All of the wounded were Bahraini citizens and there were four "serious cases", including children, the health ministry said in a statement carried by the state news agency.

The wounded included a 17-year-old girl who suffered severe head and eye injuries, and a two-month-old baby, according to the ministry.

Several explosions were also heard Monday in the Qatari capital Doha, AFP journalists said, as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait all reported new attacks.

Doha has been targeted by waves of Iranian drones and missiles since Iran launched a sprawling retaliation campaign across the Gulf in the wake of US and Israeli attacks against the Islamic republic.

Qatar's defence ministry said on Monday that its forces had intercepted a missile attack.

Elsewhere in the Gulf, Saudi Arabia's defence ministry said the kingdom intercepted and destroyed two waves of drones heading towards the Shaybah oil field in the southeast of the country.

In the UAE, the National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority said in a statement on X that air defences responded to "a missile threat".

Kuwait, which was targeted by seven missiles and five drones on Sunday, according to authorities, announced another missile and drone attack on Monday.

The defence ministry said the country's air defences were working to intercept the attack.

The United States said Sunday that it was ordering embassy staff to leave Saudi Arabia as Iran strikes the kingdom.

The State Department said in a travel advisory it had "ordered non-emergency US government employees and US government employee family members to leave Saudi Arabia due to safety risks".

Drones hit the US embassy in the Saudi capital Riyadh last week, and drones have also caused damage at the US embassies in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

Gulf countries have borne much of Tehran's response after the United States and Israel launched a massive air campaign against Iran on 28 February.

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian has warned that the Islamic republic "will be forced to respond" against its neighbours if their territory is used to attack it.