Operation 'First Powerful Steps': 230 Drones at Gulf Bases

The IRGC launched its largest single retaliatory wave — 230 drones — at US military facilities across the Gulf. Named targets included Ali Al Salem Air Base and Camp Arifjan in Kuwait, and a US base in Erbil, Iraq. The IRGC called these attacks 'among our first powerful steps,' framing five days of attacks as merely preliminary. The human cost was immediate: an 11-year-old Kuwaiti girl was killed by falling shrapnel at Al-Amiri Hospital. In Iraq, drones targeted the US embassy logistics facility near Baghdad airport, while the 'Islamic Resistance in Iraq' claimed 23+ drone strikes against US assets in Erbil. Saudi Arabia intercepted a drone in the Eastern Province, and the Ras Tanura refinery — Aramco's largest — was hit by a projectile for the second time.

Key facts

• •230 drones in single IRGC salvo — largest wave of the conflict
• •Ali Al Salem, Camp Arifjan (Kuwait), Erbil (Iraq) targeted
• •11-year-old girl killed by shrapnel in Kuwait
• •Ras Tanura refinery hit for second time
• •IRGC calls these 'first powerful steps' — signals further escalation