Qatari, US air defences defeat Iranian ballistic missile attack

Personnel from the US Army's 31st Air Defense Artillery Brigade load PAC-2 missiles onto a Patriot launcher at Al-Udeid Air Base in February 2021. (US Air Force/Staff Sgt Greg Erwin)

Patriot air-defence systems successfully defended Qatar's Al-Udeid Air Base against the ballistic missile attack that Iran carried out on the evening of 23 June in retaliation for the US airstrikes against its nuclear facilities on 22 June.

The Qatari Ministry of Defense released a statement soon after the attack saying its air defences had successfully intercepted an attack on the base. “Thanks to God, the vigilance of the armed forces, and the precautionary measures taken, the incident did not result in any deaths or injuries,” it said.

Major General Shayeq al-Hajri, the Qatari Armed Forces' deputy chief of staff for Joint Operations, added more detail in a televised press conference later that night. He said the launch of seven missiles from north and northwest Iran towards Al-Udeid was detected at 1930 h local time (1630 h GMT) and all were shot down before they reached Qatari territory by air-defence batteries. Al-Udeid was then immediately targeted by another 12 missiles, 11 of which were successfully intercepted, with one landing inside Al-Udeid, causing no losses.

Maj Gen al-Hajri also said Al-Udeid was largely evacuated prior to the attack, leaving only the Qatari personnel responsible for defending it.

US Central Command released a statement saying US and Qatari Patriot batteries had successfully defeated an Iranian ballistic missile attack against Al-Udeid, without saying how many missiles were launched or intercepted. A US official said Iran used both short- and medium-range ballistic missiles in the attack.