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Tehran’s deputy foreign minister, Majid Takht-Revanchi rejected claims that Iran attacked Saudi oil infrastructure following reports of a fire after shrapnel from two intercepted drones fell on the country’s giant Ras Tanura oil refinery.

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https://x.com/Archer83Able/status/20...831657252?s=20

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​​​​​​​Russian jam-resistant Kometa-M navigation unit was found in the wreckage of the Iranian Shahed-136 kamikaze drone used during the attack on the RAF Akrotiri air base in Cyprus.

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https://x.com/MenchOsint/status/2028...709809923?s=20

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(ACARS messages via @thebaldgeek very useful site)

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https://x.com/DefenceGeek/status/202...404058077?s=20

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​​​​​​​For all those folks who kept telling me the US weren't going to use the A-10C jets in Jordan for anything against Iran... I would like to refer you to this official CENTCOM post which lists the A-10s as "assets employed".

Thanking you!

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“We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action. We knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces. And we knew that if we didn’t preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties,” he said.

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Military officials question fortifications at site where U.S. troops were killed in Iranian strike

The first American service members to die in the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran were killed in an apparent Iranian drone attack on a makeshift office space in Kuwait, three U.S. military officials with direct knowledge of Iran's attack told CBS News.

At least six Americans were killed in a strike on a tactical operations center at the Shuaiba port in Kuwait, one of several U.S.-allied countries in the Persian Gulf region that have faced intense Iranian missile and drone attacks since the U.S. and Israel began striking Iran early Saturday. U.S. Central Command has publicly confirmed the deaths.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the deadly strike was caused by a powerful Iranian weapon that made it through both air defenses and the operations center's fortifications.

"You have air defenses, and a lot's coming in, and you hit most of it," Hegseth said during a news conference at the Pentagon. "Every once in a while, you might have one, unfortunately, we call it a squirter, that makes its way through. And in that particular case, it happened to hit a tactical operations center that was fortified, but these are powerful weapons."

But the three U.S. military officials questioned the assertion that the building was adequately fortified. They told CBS News the operations center was a triple-wide trailer made into an office space — a common setup at U.S. bases abroad.

The trailer's only fortifications were T-walls, which are 12-foot-tall, steel-reinforced concrete barriers used to protect military personnel from explosions, rocket attacks and shrapnel, the military officials said.

But T-walls could not protect the facility from an overhead strike. Two officials told CBS News that the strike appeared to hit dead-center on top of the building.

Three officials also told CBS News, speaking under condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media outlets, that prior to the attack, there were discussions on the ground about whether the tactical operations center in question should not have been used, as it concentrated too many U.S. troops in a location that wasn't defendable.

Preliminary battle damage assessments suggest the operations center in Kuwait was attacked by a one-way drone, according to three U.S. military officials with direct knowledge of Iran's attack. Iran typically uses Shahed-136 "kamikaze" drones.

Fire engulfed the buildings, which made recovery of the bodies difficult in the immediate aftermath of the strike, the officials told CBS News.

Two of the three sources told CBS News they did not recall hearing the warning sirens that are commonly associated with counter-battery systems designed to detect incoming enemy ordnance that ultimately killed the service members. They also said that the warning siren had worked all week prior to the strike on the tactical operations center, but in prior incidents, some of the drones were already inside the base before the siren would sound.

Additionally, two sources said there was no American counter-rocket, artillery and mortar system at Shuaiba port that could be used to bring down incoming drones or other deadly munitions. Kuwait had interceptors in the vicinity, but it's unclear if those were employed.

Requests were made for more capabilities to defeat incoming drones, but those additional resources never came, the two sources said. One source told CBS News: "We basically had no drone defeat capability."

"I'm sorry for their families' losses," one of the sources told CBS News. "They were nice people doing what their nation asked of them."

CNN first reported on the six service members killed at Shuaiba port and that they seemingly had no prior warning. CBS News is first to report on the type of ordnance that impacted the operations center, and that some American troops feel the center's defenses were inadequate and perhaps that the operations center established should not have been used at all.

Asked for comment, the Pentagon referred CBS News to U.S. Central Command's prior statements on the deceased service members.

In addition to the six who were killed in Kuwait, at least 18 service members had been seriously wounded as of Monday morning in the combat operation, dubbed Operation Epic Fury, a U.S. Central Command spokesperson told CBS News.

Hegseth called the service members who were killed "the absolute best of America."

"May we prosecute the remainder of this operation in a manner that honors them," he said.

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https://x.com/Osint613/status/2028621149811200160?s=20

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​​​​​​​Peninsula Shield Forces entered Bahrain from Saudi Arabia and deployed on the streets amid fears of unrest among the Shiite-majority population.

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​​​​​​​https://x.com/grok/status/2028653516525383904?s=20

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​​​​​​​Yes, this appears confirmed.

Multiple eyewitness videos (including the one shared) show armored military vehicles and convoys on the King Fahd Causeway entering Bahrain from Saudi Arabia overnight.

Local reports and X posts describe Peninsula Shield (GCC Unified Military Command) deployment to secure streets amid tensions after Iranian strikes hit Bahraini sites like the US Fifth Fleet base and industrial facilities.

Dutch embassy warnings also note increased threats at the border and military movements.

​​​​​​​This echoes the 2011 precedent but ties to current regional escalation.

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France to send anti-drone systems to Cyprus after British base attack, report says

NICOSIA, March 3 (Reuters) - France plans to send anti-missile and anti-drone systems to Cyprus after a British air base on the island was !attacked by drones, the semi-official Cyprus News Agency (CNA) said on Tuesday.

France would !send anti-missile and anti-drone systems, as well as a frigate, CNA reported. It said French President Emmanuel ​Macron communicated the intention to Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides early on Tuesday.

A Cypriot government source, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the report. The French defence ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The reported French aid to the island !follows Greece's offer of assistance ⁠hours after RAF Akrotiri, a British sovereign base, was targeted in two separate drone incidents on Monday.....

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