In a statement addressed to the people of Kuwait, the IRGC said the operation was carried out in retaliation for a deadly US attack on a residential home in Sirik, southern Iran, which turned a wedding celebration for a young Sunni couple into a mourning ceremony.
The statement said that nearly 70 civilians were hit in the attack, with four people, including a child, losing their lives.
The IRGC decried the US military for committing a “blatant violation of human rights,” saying the attack on the residential house had targeted an innocent gathering and caused numerous civilian casualties.
“In response to this crime, at dawn today, the brave fighters of the IRGC Ground Force, simultaneously with attacks on the American bases of the aggressors in Jordan, Bahrain and Erbil, carried out a combined missile-drone attack on the command center and living quarters of the American commander at Ali Al-Salem base,” the statement said on Wednesday morning.
According to the IRGC, the operation killed a number of enemy personnel. The IRGC forces then set fire to the drone hangar and the ramp used to deploy drones participating in attacks against Iranian civilians, destroying a number of the aircraft.
The IRGC also sought to distinguish its actions from hostility toward the Kuwaiti people, saying it was aware of the “affection and ties” between the Iranian and Kuwaiti peoples.
The statement added that what Tehran considers painful and concerning is the occupation of Islamic lands by the “child-killing and terrorist American army.”
“These attacks are assistance to you in cleansing the pure land and the land of noble people, Kuwait, from the presence of the American infidels,” the statement said.
It concluded by expressing hope for the end of US influence in the region and the independence of Kuwait, saying the objective was “the destruction of American domination and the Zionist regime, and the freedom and independence of the noble people of Kuwait from the occupying aggressors.”
The IRGC had announced earlier a ballistic missile attack on US drone facilities at Prince Hassan Air Base in Jordan. The IRGC said the strike targeted hangars housing RQ-4 and MQ-9 drones, destroying a number of the aircraft and killing a number of pilots and flight crew, while also setting fire to technical infrastructure.
The operation was described as retaliation for US strikes on Iran’s southern provinces of Hormozgan and Sistan and Baluchestan, which the IRGC said resulted in the deaths and injuries of civilians.