Iranian missiles intercepted over Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Bahrain sirens

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Defense has said it has intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles launched towards Prince Sultan Air Base in al-Kharj, as the United States and Israel’s war on Iran and Tehran’s retaliation on Gulf states housing US assets continue to engulf the region.

The ministry also said that it intercepted six drones heading towards the Shaybah oilfield. Earlier, the ministry said a drone was intercepted and destroyed east of Riyadh city.

Qatar’s Defence Ministry said “armed forces intercepted missile attack which targeted” the country on Saturday. It did not elaborate on how many missiles were involved or what the target was.

The Qatari Ministry of Defence had said the country came under a wave of drone attacks on Friday, with 10 drones fired from Iran. Nine of them were intercepted and destroyed, but one managed to reach the ground and land in a remote area.

Qatar’s Civil Aviation Authority announced “the partial resumption of air navigation in the State of Qatar, through designated navigational contingency routes with limited operational capacity, in full coordination with the Qatari Armed Forces and the relevant authorities in the State. This phase includes the operation of a limited number of flights designated for passenger evacuation.”

In the United Arab Emirates, the Defence Ministry said its air defences were responding to incoming missile and drone threats from Iran. The sounds heard in various parts of the emirate are the result of intercepting ballistic missiles and drones, it added.

Also in the UAE, online airline tracker Flightradar24 reported that a number of flights bound for Dubai are in a holding pattern over the airport.

Earlier, the Government of Dubai Media Office (GDMO) reported that there had been a “minor incident resulting from the fall of debris after an interception”.

The GDMO also denied reports circulating on social media about any incidents at Dubai International Airport.

But then later, all Emirates flights to and from Dubai were suspended until further notice, the airline said. They were then partially resumed. The development comes a day after the company spokesperson told the Reuters news agency on Friday that Emirates expected a return to 100 percent of its network in the coming days.

Bahrain’s Ministry of Interior warned people to head to the “nearest safe space”. It is the second time in the past few hours that sirens have sounded in Bahrain.

Al Jazeera’s Zein Basravi, reporting from the Qatari capital Doha, said, “Even with the frequency and volume of Iranian retaliatory attacks going down, all it takes is a few incidents to disrupt air travel, to disrupt global oil, the markets.”

Across the Gulf region “we’re seeing a number of incidents throughout the course of last night and into this morning, ” he added.

Beyond the Gulf, an Al Jazeera correspondent reported that a missile was intercepted above the Jordanian city of Aqaba. The city is directly across from Eilat in southern Israel. Iran has been targeting Israel daily since the war began.