Bahrain and Kuwait secretly attacked military targets inside Iran earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.
The Persian Gulf monarchies carried out air strikes on Iranian drone- and missile-storage depots, along with other targets, after sustaining months of Iranian missile and drone attacks since the war began in late February.
The strikes mark the first time that the two countries conducted offensive operations inside the Islamic Republic and follow a similar round of unacknowledged strikes carried out by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates earlier in the war.
The UAE reportedly provided Bahrain and Kuwait with targeting intelligence and provided defensive air cover for the strikes.
Arab countries allied to the United States have been the targets of the vast majority of Iran’s missile and drone attacks since the start of the war.
Iran claims frequently that it is targeting U.S. military bases in those countries, but its attacks have also struck civilian infrastructure, including a state-owned oil refinery in Bahrain and Kuwaiti power and desalination plants.
“The loss of deterrence for Iran with strikes on Iranian soil that have become the new normal has truly been something to behold,” stated Jason Brodsky, policy director at United Against Nuclear Iran.
“I can’t believe these Arab countries are fighting ‘Israel’s war,’” stated David Harsanyi, a syndicated columnist and senior writer at the Washington Examiner.
