U.S. Troops Abandon Military Bases Amid Iran Strikes

[Celerity]

Service members have been forced to work remotely.

https://newrepublic.com/post/208211/us-troops-abandon-military-bases-persian-gulf-kuwait-iran-strikes

https://archive.li/nofYA


Smoke rises from an area in the direction of Al Udeid Air Base, which houses the Qatar Emiri Air Force and foreign forces including the U.S., in Doha on February 28, following a reported Iranian strike.

Iran’s retaliatory strikes have rendered many of America’s 13 military bases in the Gulf region “all but uninhabitable,” forcing U.S. military service members to work remotely from hotels and office spaces, The New York Times reported Thursday. Within the first two weeks of the war, Iran’s attacks on U.S. military bases caused an estimated $800 million in damage, according to a report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a BBC analysis.

When the war began, there were close to 40,000 troops in the region. Now some of them have been removed as far as Europe, while many struggle to prosecute a work-from-home war. “Yes, we have the ability to set up expedient operation centers, but you’re absolutely going to lose capability,” Master Sgt. Wes J. Bryant, a retired Special Operations targeting specialist in the U.S. Air Force, told the Times. “You can’t just put all that equipment on the top of a hotel, for example. Some of it is unwieldy.”

The mass displacement of thousands of troops raises questions about what preparation, if any, the U.S. made for retaliatory strikes from Iran. By Donald Trump’s own admission, he was caught completely by surprise that Iran struck back against other Gulf nations. U.S. military bases in Kuwait have suffered the most extensive damage. In Port Shuaiba, a makeshift military operations center was struck, killing six U.S. service members. Iranian drones and missiles have also targeted Ali Al Salem Air Base and Camp Buehring.

In Bahrain, a one-way attack drone damaged communications equipment at the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet headquarters in Manama. In Saudi Arabia, missiles and drones struck five refueling planes at the Prince Sultan Air Base. In Qatar, Iran targeted Al Udeid Air Base. Iranian officials have accused the U.S. troops holed up in hotel rooms of using civilians as human shields. “We are forced to identify and target the Americans,” the intelligence arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said in a message to people in the region, according to Tasnim News Agency. “Therefore, it is better not to shelter them in hotels and to stay away from their locations.”

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[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. Iran's Attacks Force U.S. Troops to Work Remotely- New York Times (gift link)

Iran has severely damaged several American military bases in the Middle East, officials say.

Link to tweet

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/25/us/politics/iran-us-bases.html?unlocked_article_code=1.WFA.2qm6.D5raJgUeJTzO

Iran has bombed U.S. bases across the Middle East in retaliation for the U.S.-Israeli war, forcing many American troops to relocate to hotels and office spaces throughout the region, according to military personnel and American officials.

So now much of the land-based military is, in essence, fighting the war while working remotely, with the exception of fighter pilots
and crews operating and maintaining warplanes and conducting strikes.......

Many of the 13 military bases in the region used by American troops are all but uninhabitable, with the ones in Kuwait, which is next door to Iran, suffering perhaps the most damage. Six U.S. service members were killed in a strike on Port Shuaiba that destroyed an Army tactical operations center. Iranian drones and missiles also targeted Ali Al Salem Air Base, damaging aircraft structures and injuring personnel, and Camp Buehring, damaging maintenance and fuel facilities......

The lack of better planning, some military officials said, also reflects a miscalculation on the part of the administration about how Iran would respond. The Trump administration did not reduce staffing at American embassies and other facilities in the region before the war started, or order departures for nonessential government employees and family members. Nor did the State Department warn Americans to steer clear of the region until after the war began.

We will have to replace these bases