Iran Missiles Land Near UAE Airbase Where Indian Rafales Are On Overnight Halt: US Media Reports

29 July, 2020

Iranian missiles reportedly landed close to an airbase in the UAE where the Indian Air Force’s Rafale fighter jets are stationed on an overnight halt.

An alert was sounded at the Al Dhafra airbase in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Tuesday after an Iranian military exercise. Located about an hour from UAE’s capital city Abu Dhabi, the Al Dhafra base houses US and French troops and aircraft.

Incidentally, the first batch of India’s five Rafale fighter aircraft due to arrive in Haryana’s Ambala on Wednesday landed at the Al Dhafra base on Tuesday night as part of an overnight halt. The aircraft, three single-seater and two double-seater began their journey from the Merignac airbase in the French port city of Bordeaux and will be inducted into the Indian Air Force’s No 17 Squadron, also known as the ‘Golden Arrows’.

Satellite image of Al Dhafra airbase in UAE 

US news channel CNN’s Barbara Starr reported that the Al Dhafra base in UAE and Al Udeid airbase i

n Qatar went on alert after intel indicators hinted at an incoming “Iranian missile possibly headed that way”. Starr claimed that personnel were told to take cover but no missile struck either of the bases.

Adding to that, Lucas Tomlinson of US’ Fox News also reported the incident. In a tweet, Tomlinson quoted an official who said that two bases in Middle East housing US troops and aircraft were put on high alert when “3 Iranian missiles splashed down in waters near the bases Tues. (Tuesday) as part of Iran’s military exercises.”

Courtesy: Opera News/ indiatoday.in