• May move some military assets in Middle East farther west, potentially to Israel• Fifth Fleet HQ in Bahrain among most affected sites, says WSJ• Estimates suggest $5bn damage across 11 US military installations
WASHINGTON: The United States is weighing the relocation of parts of its military footprint in the Middle East further westward, potentially to Israel, as Iranian missile and drone strikes expose serious vulnerabilities in forward-deployed bases across the Gulf, according to media and think tank assessments.
The reported strikes, which followed the start of the US-Israeli bombing campaign in Iran on Feb 28, are said to have hit multiple American and allied military installations across the region. The attacks are reported to have killed 13 service members and wounded hundreds, although a comprehensive accounting of casualties and damage has not yet been made public.
According to the Wall Street Journal, one of the most significant sites affected was Naval Support Activity (NSA) in Bahrain, the headquarters of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, located approximately 240 kilometres south of Iran.
The base sustained damage to a range of facilities, including the Fifth Fleet headquarters building, barracks, warehouses and a potable water tank. Estimates cited in reporting place damage to the installation at around $400 million, with portions of the destruction not fully acknowledged publicly by the Pentagon.
