From Tehran to Dubai: Geolocated videos show the shockwaves of US-Israeli strikes — and Iran’s retaliation
By Yahya Abou-Ghazala, Thomas Bordeaux, Gianluca Mezzofiore, Katie Polglase, Isaac Yee, Teele Rebane, Avery Schmitz, Farida Elsebai, CNN
(CNN) — After the United States and Israel launched a regime change operation against Iran on Saturday morning, footage emerging on social media and geolocated by CNN offered a window into its impacts.
The attacks have hit prominent Iranian military targets and have resulted in the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to a Truth Social announcement from President Donald Trump. One strike killed scores of students in an elementary school in southern Iran, according to state media.
In retaliation, Tehran has carried out attacks across the Middle East. Footage from at least five Arab countries that host US military bases – including Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar – show the range of sites struck by Iran, from a US Navy facility to Dubai’s luxurious Palm Jumeirah district.
Following initial reports of strikes across Iran’s capital, footage surfacing from inside Tehran showed extensive damage to several key political and military buildings.
The US and Israeli joint attacks appear to show the targeting of senior political figures at the compound of Iran’s supreme leader. There was no immediate word which country – or whether both – targeted the compound.
This facility, known as the beyt-e rahbari, has long stood as the seat of the Ayatollah’s decades-long grip on power. CNN geolocated several videos from different angles that appear to show smoke rising from inside the compound.
This satellite image captured by Airbus shows damage to several buildings in the compound. It’s unclear if that’s where Khamenei was killed.
As plumes of smoke rose across the city of around 10 million people, videos geolocated by CNN also appear to show a strike on Iran’s intelligence ministry complex.
US and Israeli sources have said they are hitting military targets, but videos also show the attacks impacting densely populated civilian areas.
The largest civilian death toll so far has reportedly come from a strike on a girls’ school in the southern Iranian city of Minab. At least 85 students have died at the Shajaba Tayyiba School, according to state news agency IRNA, which cited the prosecutor of Minab city, where the school was located. Red Crescent put the toll higher, at 108.
The school sits about 200 feet (60 meters) from an Iranian military base and previously appears to have been part of that facility, but satellite imagery shows that it has been separated from the base since at least 2016. Another video reviewed and geolocated by CNN shows multiple fires burning at the military base next to the school.
Asked about the strike, US Central Command spokesperson Tim Hawkins said “we are aware of reports concerning civilian harm resulting from ongoing military operations. We take these reports seriously and are looking into them. The protection of civilians is of utmost importance, and we will continue to take all precautions available to minimize the risk of unintended harm.”
Shortly after the start of the US-Israeli attacks, Iran began a swift round of counter strikes targeting locations across the region, including multiple US military bases. Iran also launched dozens of ballistic missiles toward Israel, according to Nour News, an outlet affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
According to the IRGC, al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar, al-Salem Air Base in Kuwait, al-Dhafra Air Base in the UAE, and the US naval base in Bahrain have been targeted. Muwaffaq al-Salti Air Base in Jordan was also targeted, according to Iranian state media, as well as a US base in northern Iraq.
One of the most notable strikes captured on video was an Iranian strike on the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain.
In one video filmed near the US Navy’s military base in Manama, Bahrain, an Iranian Shahed drone is seen directly making impact with a radar dome at the facility. The drone attack occurred near an earlier strike on the Fifth Fleet.
Iranian drones have also struck commercial and residential targets in the Persian Gulf. Multiple videos geolocated by CNN show a Shahed drone attack near the Fairmont Hotel in Dubai, causing a large explosion and fire.
The Fairmont is in Dubai’s high-end Palm Jumeirah, a densely settled manmade set of islands off the city’s beach, known for its luxury apartments, hotels and restaurants.
Several videos from Bahrain show one of the Shahed drones striking the upper floors of the Era Views Tower, a high-rise residential building roughly a mile from the US Navy base.
In Kuwait, a drone attack on the country’s international airport left several people injured and caused limited damage to the passenger terminal, according to Kuwait’s Civil Aviation Authority. Video recorded from inside the airport appears to show the aftermath of the strike.
By evening on Saturday, a producer in CNN’s bureau in Tel Aviv shared video of a projectile making landfall amid warning sirens. One of the missiles appeared to pierce Israel’s aerial defense array and hit the Tel Aviv area, setting off a large explosion and sending a large dark cloud into the sky.
The US and Israeli operation is expected to last several days, according to two sources, and the Israel Defense Forces said the strikes had been planned in close coordination with Washington for months. As Tehran’s retaliation continues, Iran’s army said it will deliver a “historic lesson” to the US and Israel.
The-CNN-Wire
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