Pentagon watchdog says hundreds of structures hit, senior service member warns repairs to take ‘decades’
Images of damage to Camp Buehring in Kuwait, released and annotated by Iranian state-affiliated media. (Washington Post illustration; Center row: Iranian state-affiliated media; Background: Planet, with Post annotation)
US military bases in the Middle East have sustained heavy damage from Iranian strikes, according to photos and videos obtained by ABC News, as the Pentagon assesses the toll of a war Washington launched more than six months ago.
The report said the images show damaged buildings and an aircraft at three bases in Kuwait and a Saudi base hosting US assets, some of which were evacuated.
One photo appears to show an E-3 Sentry surveillance aircraft, valued at $270 million, damaged in late March at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, the report noted.
“These bases have been irreparably damaged. And if we choose to rebuild them, it’s going to be a decades-long undertaking,” said a senior US service member, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Read: Trump says Iran seeking deal as US considers next move
The service member accused the Pentagon of a lack of transparency, saying: “There are drone strikes and ballistic missile strikes actively landing on bases every day.”
A Pentagon inspector general report released Monday indicated “hundreds of buildings and structures” were damaged. The watchdog estimated the war’s cost at $33 billion, while the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office put it at $38 billion.
The Defence Department said 18 US service members have been killed and 824 wounded since the war began on February 28. The deadliest attack came on the second day, when six soldiers were killed at Port Shuaiba in Kuwait.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has said force protection is a top priority, though he acknowledged that some Iranian weapons get through.
Yemeni warplanes strike Houthi positions east of Taiz city
Yemeni government warplanes carried out airstrikes on Houthi positions around the Al-Qasr roundabout east of Taiz city, state-run Aljoumhouriya TV reported on Friday.
The broadcaster did not provide details on casualties or damage from the strikes.
The airstrikes came amid intensified fighting across Taiz province in southwestern Yemen, including areas west of the city near the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
Read more: Yemeni airstrikes hit Houthi sites as clashes intensify in Taiz, Lahj: official
The Taiz Military Axis said government forces repelled a Houthi attack on the Al-Kadahah front in western Taiz.
It said troops forced the attackers to retreat after inflicting casualties, without providing figures.
Al-Kadahah is strategically located along the road linking Taiz with Mokha, near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
There was no immediate comment from the Houthis on the government accounts.
Earlier on Friday, the Yemeni army said 30 Houthi fighters were killed and 60 wounded in clashes and airstrikes around the Al-Dharifah junction in the Al-Wazi’iyah district in western Taiz.
Fayyad Alnoman, assistant undersecretary at Yemen’s Information Ministry for television affairs, later told Anadolu that government forces and the Popular Resistance recaptured Jabal al-Bazilah and the Madkhulah area on the Aghbarah front following heavy fighting.
The developments come amid rapidly shifting front lines in Yemen, particularly along the western coast.
The Houthis have recently advanced in parts of Al Hudaydah and Taiz provinces, and taken strategic areas, including Mokha, as well as Red Sea islands including Perim Island in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, according to media reports.
Government forces, meanwhile, have reported advances in Al-Jawf province toward Al-Hazm, the provincial capital, while fighting continues on fronts in Marib, Al-Dhalea and Al-Bayda.
The latest escalation began in early July and is the most intense since years of relative calm following the April 2022 truce.
Fighting has accelerated in September, particularly along the western coast and areas surrounding the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
Yemen has been engulfed in conflict since the Houthis seized the national capital, Sanaa, and several provinces in September 2014. That prompted a Saudi-led Arab coalition to intervene in March 2015 in support of the internationally recognised government.
Saudi Arabia issues air raid alert in Riyadh, explosions heard
Explosions were heard in Riyadh, AFP journalists reported, after an air raid alert is issued by Saudi Arabian authorities, regularly targeted in recent days by Houthis in Yemen.
This is the first time the capital has been directly affected since a conflict in neighbouring Yemen intensified in July.
“The area is under a hostile aerial threat,” a message received shortly before 3am local time (5am PKT) by residents of the Saudi capital warned, urging them to stay indoors.
AFP journalists then heard two explosions, and the alert was lifted about half an hour later by Saudi Arabia’s civil defence agency.
US troop deaths during Iran war exceed Pentagon count by at least four: WSJ
More US troops have died during the US-Israeli war with Iran than the Pentagon has publicly disclosed, the Washington Post reported on Friday.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth denied the report.
The Post, citing five unidentified officials, reported that there had been at least 22 military fatalities, four more than were listed in the data available on the Pentagon’s public database.
The newspaper also reported, citing another unidentified official, that not all of the undisclosed deaths were directly tied to the months-long conflict but involved US personnel who were in the Middle East amid ongoing hostilities.
Hegseth, in a post on X, called the report “a complete LIE.”
The Post did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In its story, the newspaper said the Pentagon had declined to address its questions about the discrepancy in casualty accounting.
Yemeni official says government forces retook 2 positions between Taiz, Lahj
Yemeni government forces have retaken two positions between the western provinces of Taiz and Lahj following clashes with the Houthis, a government official said on Friday.
“The armed forces and Popular Resistance on the Al-Aghbara front, located between Al-Wazi’iyah district in Taiz province and the Al-Subaiha area in Lahj province, regained Al-Bazla mountain and the Madkhula area after fierce battles with the Houthi militia,” Fayyad al-Numan, assistant undersecretary at Yemen’s Information Ministry, told Anadolu.
Government forces inflicted casualties and equipment losses on the Houthis during the fighting and targeted reinforcements belonging to the group, said Al-Numan.
“The armed forces also targeted other positions and military vehicles belonging to the Houthi militia in Al-Hartha village in the Al-Dharifa area of Al-Wazi’iyah district, west of Taiz,” he added.
The Al-Aghbara front is considered strategically important because of its location between Lahj and Taiz, linking it operationally to fronts across both provinces, according to media reports.
There was no comment from the Houthis on the fighting, which comes amid shifts in territorial control and escalating fighting on several fronts in Yemen.
