IRAN STRIKES BACK, HITS US BASE IN QATAR

Ramaphosa calls for dialogue on Iran, Israel conflict

- 

QATAR said it had successfully intercepted an Iranian missile attack yesterday on the United States' Al Udeid base, the largest US military facility in the Middle East.

"The Ministry of Defence announced that Qatari air defences successfully intercepted a missile attack targeting Al Udeid Air Base," it said in a statement, adding that "the incident did not result in any deaths or injuries".

Qatar has described the attack on the US base as a "flagrant violation" of sovereignty.

"We express the State of Qatar's strong condemnation of the attack on Al Udeid Air Base by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, and consider it a flagrant violation of the State of Qatar's sovereignty and airspace, as well as of international law," foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari stated.

Explosions could be heard over Doha yesterday, shortly after Qatar, which hosts the biggest US base in the Middle East, suspended air traffic as Iran threatened retaliation for US strikes on its nuclear sites.

AFP journalists heard several rounds of blasts in central Doha and across the Qatari capital, with projectiles stopped by interceptors illuminating the night sky.

Gas-rich Qatar, which lies 190 km south of Iran across the Gulf, is home to the United States' largest military base in the region, Al Udeid, which hosts the regional headquarters of the Pentagon's Central Command.

Earlier, the US embassy in Qatar advised Americans there not to go out, with other Western embassies echoing the warning.