CAIRO, Egypt: The Arab League’s secretary-general said Sunday that Iranian attacks on several member states were “reckless”, urging Tehran to reverse what he called a “massive strategic mistake”.
In response to a US-Israeli air campaign that began on February 28, Iran has launched retaliatory strikes on Israel and Gulf states, which house American bases.
Addressing an emergency videoconference of Arab foreign ministers from Cairo, Ahmed Aboul Gheit said the strikes “cannot be justified under any pretext or excuse”, accusing Tehran of responding to Gulf peace efforts with “treacherous rockets and drone attacks”.
He said Arab states were “not parties to the ongoing war” and had made it clear they would not allow “their territory or airspace to be used” to launch attacks.
Several Arab countries, including Oman — until recently the mediator of US-Iran nuclear talks — as well as Qatar and Egypt, had put in “earnest, sincere and serious efforts to spare the entire region, including Iran, the ravages of war”, Aboul Gheit added.
The meeting was requested by Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Jordan and Egypt, Arab League’s assistant secretary-general Hossam Zaki said.
US and Israeli forces launched a massive air campaign against Iran on February 28. Iran has retaliated with strikes against Israel and Gulf countries.
Drone strikes Kuwait’s international airport
Meanwhile, Kuwait’s Interior Ministry said on Sunday that two border guards were killed “while performing duties,” according to a post on X.
The national oil company also announced a “precautionary” cut to its crude production, as the country’s military said Sunday it had responded to several drone and missile attacks.
Fuel tanks at Kuwait’s international airport were targeted in a drone attack, the military added.
The official Kuwait News Agency said a fire at the airport was brought under control, reporting no “significant injuries.”
The military called the drone attack “a direct targeting of vital infrastructure.”
A separate statement said “some civilian facilities sustained material damage as a result of falling fragments and debris from interception operations.”
Drone damages desalination plant in Bahrain
Bahrain’s Interior Ministry said on Sunday that an Iranian drone attack had damaged a water desalination plant.
“The Iranian aggression randomly bombs civilian targets and causes material damage to a water desalination plant following an attack by a drone,” the ministry said in a statement.
Also Sunday, falling missile debris injured three people and damaged a university building in Bahrain, the ministry said.
“As a result of the blatant Iranian aggression, 3 people were injured and material damage was inflicted on a university building in the Muharraq area after missile fragments fell,” it said in a statement, referring to an island area northwest of Manama.
On Saturday, Bahrain said it had intercepted 92 missiles and 151 drones since the start of the “brutal Iranian aggression.”
Saudi Arabia intercepts and destroys drones
Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry reported on Sunday intercepting and destroying drones that entered the Kingdom’s airspace, including an attempted attack at the diplomatic quarter in Riyadh.
On the attempted drone attack at the diplomatic quarter in the capital, Spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense Major General Turki Al-Maliki stated that no material damage or civilian casualties were reported after the drone was shot down.
On Saturday, Saudi Minister of Defense Prince Khalid bin Salman bin Abdulaziz hoped Iran would “demonstrate wisdom and reason and steer clear of miscalculations.”
