The Iranian attack on the US military’s key Qatar air base is likely to hit a geodetic dome housing device used by Americans for secure communication, with satellite images analyzed Friday by the Associated Press Show.
The US military and Qatar did not immediately respond to requests for comment on previously unrecognised damages, the AP report added. The Iranian attack on Al-Udeid Air Base outside Doha, Qatar’s capital, on June 23, came in response to the American bombing of three Tehran nuclear sites.
Otherwise, the Iranian attack would have done little damage – probably due to the fact that the US evacuated the aircraft from its US home to the front headquarters of the US military’s central headquarters prior to the attack.
Satellite images from Planet Labs PBC show the geodesic dome seen on the Al Udeid Air Base on the morning of June 23, hours before the attack. The US Air Force’s 379th Airlines Expedition Building announced in 2016 that it was operating from the base, that it announced the installation of $15 million in equipment known as the Modernized Enterprise Terminal. The photo shows a satellite dish inside the dome known as the radome.
Images taken daily on June 25th show that the dome is missing, with some damage visible to nearby buildings. The rest of the base appears to be barely touched by the image.
It’s possible that a fragment or something hit the dome, but given the destruction of the dome, it could be an Iranian attack, and perhaps a drone carrying a bomb, given the limited visible damage to the surrounding structures.
London-based satellite news channel Iran International first reported the damage, citing satellite photos taken by another provider.
Trump downplayed the attack. The US president described the Iranian attack as a “very weak response.” He said Tehran fired 14 missiles, 13 were intercepted, and one was “freed” as it was heading in a “threat-free” direction.
After the attack, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) claimed that the air base was “a target for a destructive and powerful missile attack.” Iran’s top security council also claimed the base had been “destroyed.”
Advisors to Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei knew he might have known that the dome had been attacked.
MNA