File image.
The IRGC announced that it struck a United States troop assembly area at Camp Arifjan and destroyed a radar installation at Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait, describing the operation as the 18th wave of what it calls “Operation Nasr 2.”
In a statement on July 18, the Guard said its Ground Force had hit a concentration point of “invading forces” at the logistical support center inside Camp Arifjan, adding that several personnel were killed.
It also said a drone strike destroyed the radar system at Ali Al Salem Air Base, and that its forces also struck a weapons maintenance hangar and a drone shelter, adding that further Ground Force operations would continue.
The IRGC accused the U.S. of resuming a conflict it said had never truly ended, even as negotiations were underway. It said American forces had shifted from direct confrontation to attacks on civilian infrastructure — including hospitals, bridges, railways, airports, ports and telecommunications centers — in what it described as an attempt to mask battlefield setbacks.
Arguing that no international body existed to stop what it called “American military abuses,” the IRGC said the Islamic Republic had no choice but to respond in kind, invoking a Quranic principle that a transgressor should be met with an equivalent response.
The Guards warned countries hosting U.S. forces that had allowed their territory to be used against Iran to prepare for a corresponding response, urging them to activate civil defense measures to protect their populations. It said Iran had, for now, kept its response limited to military targets in order to give the U.S. a chance to change course.
In a separate statement, the IRGC said its navy carried out coordinated drone and missile strikes overnight in response to earlier U.S. attacks, hitting a fuel support pier used by the U.S. fleet at Al Ahmadi Port in Kuwait, an aircraft parking site at Sheikh Isa Air Base in Bahrain, and an intelligence data center in Bahrain it identified as Batelco.
It added that its naval forces also destroyed a signaling and communications center in Kuwait, noting that the operations were carried out while the navy maintained full control of the Strait of Hormuz.
Separately, Iran’s Army said it had carried out the 14th and 15th phases of what it calls “Operation Saeqeh,” using attack drones to strike U.S. military facilities and bridges in Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain.
In a statement, the Army said the 14th phase hit an ammunition depot at Camp Al-Udeiri, headquarters buildings and ammunition warehouses at Ali Al Salem Air Base, and several bridges in Kuwait, along with fuel storage facilities at Jordan’s Al Azraq Air Base.
It described Camp Al-Udeiri as a major logistics and force-reorganization hub for U.S. troops, Ali Al Salem as one of Washington’s largest air-operations support centers in the Persian Gulf, and Al Azraq as a key regional command installation.
The Army said the 15th phase targeted aircraft shelters, parking areas and fuel storage at Sheikh Isa Air Base in Bahrain, along with several bridges, describing the base as one of the most important logistical centers supporting U.S. air and naval operations against regional targets, particularly Iran.
It said the strikes were carried out in response to what it called “crimes of global arrogance” and in honor of those killed in recent attacks on southern Iran.
Kuwait, Bahrain, and Jordan all acknowledged coming under attack overnight, with videos posted to social networks showing direct hits. Axios also reported that Iran launched a missile at a U.S. base in Saudi Arabia, although neither the Islamic Republic or the Kingdom have confirmed this yet.
The U.S. also renewed its strikes against Iran overnight, with a focus on the Islamic Republic’s southern region. Strikes hit six bridges in Bandar Khamir County in Hormozgan Province, disrupting the Bandar Abbas–Lar highway, along with the Roudkhaneh Shour Bridge on the Bandar Abbas–Sirjan route and two additional bridges on the road from the Minab junction toward Rudan. The Shahid Mirzaei Tunnel was also damaged in both directions, according to the Hormozgan provincial government.
Black smoke was reported rising near Konarak Air Base, while Hormozgan Deputy Governor Ismail Dehestani said separate strikes hit electricity infrastructure and desalination pumps at a pier in the town of Bonji in Jask County, disrupting drinking water supplies to several towns.
In a statement released on July 18, Central Command said the strikes “hit surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage, and maritime capabilities.”
The ongoing confrontation between the U.S. and Iran, which began on July 7, is slowly expanding. The confrontation has put the memorandum of understanding signed by the two sides last month to end the war on the brink of collapse. A full-on regional war could start at any moment.
According to Iran’s Health Ministry, at least 38 civilians, including women and children, have been killed and more than 400 others injured since the start of the confrontation.
There is still no clear information about U.S. casualties, although CBS News reported that several U.S. service members were wounded in recent Iranian strikes on two bases in Jordan.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence
NOW hosted at southfront.press
Previously, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.org.
The .org domain name had been blocked by the US (NATO) (https://southfront.press/southfront-org-blocked-by-u-s-controlled-global-internet-supervisor/) globally, outlawed and without any explanation
Back before that, from 2013 to 2015, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.com
