Bbc News: Missiles and Drones Strike Near US Fifth Fleet Headquarters in Bahrain
Videos appear to show missiles and drones striking the vicinity of the US Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain, news noted, and the images underscore gaps in regional air defences after a wave of US and Israeli strikes on Iran and earlier hits on the Supreme Leader's compound and Iran's retaliatory strikes.
News: What the videos show
Footage circulating online appears to show missiles and drones striking near the US Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain, with no reports of casualties so far and the US military likely having had some warning and taking precautions to evacuate personnel. Video material shows a relatively slow-moving Iranian Shahed drone breaching defences, and in Ukraine such drones can often be shot down with a simple high calibre machine-gun.
Gaps in regional air defences
Tom Sharpe, a former Royal Navy Commander, says Bahrain was likely seen by Iran as a high-profile target that has, in the past, had relatively little in the way of air defences. Over the past few weeks, the US has been reported to have flown out additional air defence systems to the region, including THAAD and Patriot systems, which can shoot down ballistic missiles; these systems are expensive and limited in numbers. For context, Ukraine has fewer than 10 Patriot batteries and still struggles to defend the capital, Kyiv, and it remains unlikely the US has sufficient numbers to protect all its military bases and interests in the Middle East.
US assets sent to the region
The US Navy has deployed around a dozen Arleigh Burke-class Destroyers to the Gulf and the eastern Mediterranean; these air-defence destroyers can also shoot down drones and ballistic missiles and have already proven effective in the Red Sea against the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. Between 2024 and 2026, the US intercepted nearly 400 Houthi drones and missiles. US fighter jets sent to the region are also capable of intercepting drones and missiles, and the US now has more than 100 jets in the region—yet even these significant capabilities are unlikely to be enough to prevent Iran from successfully striking some targets, as the footage of the Shahed breach demonstrates and as news coverage has highlighted.
Iran's arsenal and the immediate outlook
Before these latest US and Israeli strikes, Iran still probably had an arsenal of around 2, 000 short-range of ballistic missiles and it has many more one-way attack drones. Those inventories, paired with the limits on deployed defences, help explain why US and allied forces can intercept large numbers of incoming weapons yet still face the prospect that some strikes will get through.
Next actions regarding the US Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain and any additional regional deployments or defensive moves are unclear in the provided context.
