Iranian attacks damaged or destroyed at least 228 buildings and pieces of equipment at U.S. military sites across the Middle East during the war, far more than Washington has publicly acknowledged, according to a Washington Post analysis of satellite images.
The Post said it reviewed more than 100 satellite images released by Iranian state media and verified 109 of them using lower-resolution imagery from the European Union’s Copernicus system and other sources. It said it found no evidence the verified images had been manipulated.
The analysis found damage at 15 U.S. military sites, including hangars, fuel depots, aircraft, radar equipment, air-defense systems and satellite communications facilities.
According to U.S. military data cited by the Post, seven American service members have been killed in Iranian attacks on military facilities since the war began Feb. 28 — six in Kuwait and one in Saudi Arabia. More than 400 U.S. troops had been wounded by the end of April, including 12 seriously.
The Post reported damage to a satellite communications site at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, Patriot systems in Bahrain and Kuwait, a satellite system at the U.S. Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain and a power station at Camp Buehring in Kuwait. It also reported damage to radar domes, THAAD-related equipment in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, and an E-3 Sentry aircraft and refueling tanker at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.
More than half the damaged sites were at the Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain and three bases in Kuwait: Ali Al Salem Air Base, Camp Arifjan and Camp Buehring.
U.S. Central Command declined to confirm the Post’s findings and disputed the characterization of the damage, saying battle damage assessments are complex and can sometimes be inaccurate.