At least 15 U.S. military personnel were wounded in an Iranian attack on Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Houthi rebels entered the war with an attack on Israel.
ADRIAN MA, HOST:
At least 15 U.S. military personnel were wounded in an Iranian attack on an air base in Saudi Arabia, which also damaged refueling aircraft. And in an escalation in the war, Yemen’s Houthi rebels entered the fighting with an attack on Israel. We’re joined by NPR’s Jane Arraf, who’s following events from Amman, Jordan. Jane, thanks for taking the time.
JANE ARRAF, BYLINE: Thank you.
MA: Can you start with telling us what happened in Saudi Arabia?
ARRAF: Well, this was an attack on the Prince Sultan Air Base, and that’s a Saudi base, but it’s also a regional U.S. military hub that focuses on aerial refueling and missile defense systems. At least six missiles and more than two dozen drones were fired by Iran, according to U.S. Officials who requested anonymity. And military experts are calling it a serious breach of U.S. air defenses. Several of those wounded service people were reported to be seriously wounded. The attacks also damaged refueling tankers.
Iran released Chinese satellite images that appear to show burning aircraft, and it said it had destroyed two of the airborne tankers – they refuel fighter jets in the air – and damaged others. That’s after Israel struck three Iranian steel plants and a nuclear facility. The international nuclear watchdog said there was no risk of radiation leak from that strike.
MA: Jane, what more can you tell us about the Yemeni Houthi attack on Israel today and its significance?
ARRAF: Well, it’s the first known attack of this war by the Iran-backed group.
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ARRAF: The Houthi spokesman said they launched ballistic missiles that targeted what he called sensitive Israeli military sites in southern Israel, and he also said that they would target U.S. shipping vessels and warships in the Red Sea. And that’s significant because Iran has consolidated control over the waterway the Strait of Hormuz, where one-fifth of global oil exports go through. So if the Houthis focus on impacting oil and other traffic through the Red Sea, that’s also going to have a significant effect.
MA: With all of this happening, what is the prospect, if any, for diplomacy at this point?
ARRAF: Well, the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt are meeting in Pakistan Sunday. And Pakistan’s prime minister says he and the Iranian president have held what he calls extensive discussions that are aimed at ending this war. The U.S. hasn’t been doing quite so well, it seems. President Trump said this week that talks were going very well and that he had given Tehran till April 6 to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. But Iran says It has not been negotiating. It has not engaged in negotiations with the U.S.
MA: Connected to this is fighting that’s happening in Lebanon. That’s where Israel has launched an invasion of the south of the country, and Iran-backed Hezbollah has been firing back. Can you just update us on what’s happening there?
ARRAF: Absolutely. There have been more than a million Lebanese displaced – and that’s, like, 20% of the population – as Israel depopulates entire towns in Beirut’s huge southern suburbs. And the impact of that invasion and the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah is becoming increasingly dangerous to document. Israel, today, killed three journalists in an airstrike on their vehicle. One of them was a correspondent for Hezbollah’s television channel, who has been reporting from the south for almost 30 years. Israel claimed, without evidence, he was a Hezbollah operative – in fact, a member of one of their elite forces. But the actions that Israel described – identifying where Israeli forces were and contacts with Hezbollah – are actually normal journalistic practices. Israel didn’t comment on the other two journalists killed with him.
MA: We’ve talked so far about the latest developments in this now monthlong war, but are there other repercussions worth pointing to right now for other countries?
ARRAF: Absolutely. This war is so different because it’s really difficult to find any country untouched by this in the region. You know, one of the effects is that some of the busiest airports in the region have shut down, leaving people stranded. Israel has restricted outgoing flights, and this week, the U.S. embassy in Israel announced it was arranging buses from Israel to the Amman airport in Jordan to fly people out of here. Kuwait announced that its airport radar had been damaged. Its airport has been closed for almost a month.
And it’s not just Iran involved, it’s Iranian proxies. There’s a low-key battle going on for control of Iraq between Iran-backed militias and the Iraqi government, which pays some of their salaries. You know, those militias are being blamed for targeting a home of the Kurdistan Region president today. Not his main home, mind you, but it is a message that things are starting to get what many people worry could be out of control.
MA: That’s NPR’s Jane Arraf. Jane, thanks for your reporting.
ARRAF: Thank you.
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