cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/8474568

New satellite images reveal significant damage to the U.S. Al-Udeid air base in Qatar following Iran’s retaliatory strikes last month.

New satellite images reveal significant damage to the U.S. Al-Udeid air base in Qatar following Iran’s retaliatory strikes last month, debunking President Donald Trump’s claims that the largest U.S. military base in the West Asia region had been unscathed.

The images, analyzed by The Associated Press and provided by Planet Labs PBC, showed that a geodesic dome, known as Radome, which housed key secure communications equipment used by U.S. forces, was present at the base just hours before the Iranian attack, but was no longer visible in subsequent images.

“Planet Labs photos showed the geodesic dome intact on the morning of June 23, the day of the Iranian retaliation,” the findings indicated. “Later images, taken from June 25, showed the dome missing, with visible burn marks and damage to an adjacent building.”

So far, U.S. and Qatari authorities have not offered an immediate official response on the extent of the damage, and neither government has publicly acknowledged the incident.

The damage to the dome occurred following the U.S. attack on three Iranian nuclear facilities in Natanz, Fordo and Isfahan on June 22. This attack was responded to the next day with Iranian bombing raids on the U.S. air base.

Trump dismissed the June 23 Iranian response as “very weak” in a Truth Social post.

The U.S. did not retaliate after the Iranian attack on the U.S. airbase, and Trump quickly enacted a unilateral ceasefire on behalf of Washington and Tel Aviv, which is still in effect.

Iran’s missile attack on the US Al-Udeid air base in Qatar reveals an uncomfortable fact: this base represents both a military and political liability for the United States. Worse, it gives Qatar, with its sometimes anti-American agenda, undue influence over Washington policy.

Former U.S. Central Command commander Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr. is quoted as detailing in a report that the base “will be rendered unusable in the event of a sustained Iranian attack.”

Israel launched its aggression against Iran on June 13, attacking nuclear and military facilities as well as residential areas. This attack triggered a series of Iranian retaliatory missile strikes against Israeli targets in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The war also included a U.S. aggression against Iranian nuclear facilities, followed by an Iranian missile attack against the U.S. air base in Qatar on June 23.

After 12 days of conflict, Israel ended its aggression against Iran in the early hours of Tuesday morning after suffering heavy blows at the hands of the Iranian Armed Forces.

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