Bahrain's Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly condemned the continued malicious drone attacks launched from Iraq towards Bahrain and several Gulf Cooperation Council countries, calling on Baghdad to address these threats and attacks urgently and responsibly.
The level of accuracy in some of this targeting you can see it in our neighbours as well as the kingdom indicates that this is something that was premeditated, preplanned, preorganised and well thought out.
Despite not knowing whether the conflict would be ongoing by the time their event dates roll around, a decision needed to be made imminently due to the logistics of when teams had to start sending freight to the Middle East for both events. It is highly unlikely the races in the Middle East will be replaced, given the schedule at the back end of the year is tightly packed.
Government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on X Friday that Pakistan's aircraft also struck fuel depots belonging to the private airline Kam Air near Kandahar airport. There was no immediate comment from Pakistan's military or government. Calls for restraint from the international community have gone unheeded by both sides.
We have been bolstering our UK military presence in the Middle East since January, and we have already deployed capabilities to protect British people and our allies in the region, including Typhoons, F-35 jets, air defence systems and an extra 400 personnel into Cyprus. Since the strikes began, we've had British jets in the sky shooting down drones and have sent additional assets to the region to further reinforce our air defences, including more Typhoons and Wildcat helicopters with drone busting missiles.
The German soldiers and contingents were not the immediate target. And the bases themselves are not operated by the German Bundeswehr, which is only "guest" there along with troops from other nations, including the US. The Defense Ministry emphasized that precautions had been taken in good time to protect German soldiers in the Middle East.
Iran-backed militias around the Middle East are intensifying attacks against Israel, the US and their allies, in retaliation for the ongoing joint US-Israeli offensive against Tehran as the war draws in new armed actors, threatening wider chaos and violence. Israel and the US have targeted Iran's network of militant groups, with Iraq emerging as a key front in this new and often clandestine confrontation.
The Ministers strongly condemned the unjustifiable Iranian attacks against the GCC countries which threaten regional and global security and called on Iran to cease immediately its attacks, they said in a joint EU-GCC statement. The statement also reaffirmed that Gulf countries have the right to take all necessary measures to defend their security and stability and protect their territories, citizens and residents.
