00:00Paul, let's go straight to our correspondent at Doha, Hoda Abd al-Hamid, who's waiting for us live.
00:04Hoda, a very good evening to you. Great to see you, as always.
00:08Tell us about the strategy, then, that Iran seems to have here in these attacks.
00:15Well, I think there's a pattern that has emerged over the last 10 days.
00:18After the first day of shock and awe, where it was an intense attack on all the Gulf countries apart
00:27from Saudi Arabia,
00:28it seems that Iran now is concentrating on the northern countries of the GCC area, i.e. the United Arab
00:38Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, and Bahrain.
00:40And that could be very much for geographical reasons.
00:45These countries are very close to the coast of southern Iran.
00:49The UAE, for example, is only 200 kilometers away.
00:52So Iran from there could fire shorter-range drones and missiles, and it also gives, on the receiving side, it
01:03gives less time to react,
01:06even though so far the interception rate is extremely high, between 90 to 95 percent, depending on which country we
01:14are talking about.
01:16What are the aims of these attacks?
01:20Well, the U.S. assets, as we know, like, for example, here in Qatar, the El Udeid base is considered
01:27the brain of the whole U.S. operation in the Gulf region.
01:31If you look at Kuwait, it has the staging ground from where U.S. personnel and military hardware are deployed.
01:41If you look at the UAE, it has the port of Jebel Ali, for example, which is the largest U
01:48.S. port call outside of the U.S.
01:51And then there is also the Bahrain, where you have the U.S. Navy.
01:56So those would be main targets.
01:58But you also are having a lot of symbolism, for example, in attacking the UAE.
02:04The UAE is a country that has signed the Abram Accords and is certainly the closest country of the GCC
02:09to Israel and the United States at the moment.
02:13So that's full of symbolism as well.
02:16And then there's the fact that those are big financial hubs like the UAE or oil installations or gas installations
02:24like here.
02:25So you have that ripple effect that would affect, would have an impact on a global stage.
02:31So certainly that seems to be the pattern more and more as these countries still struggling to get more interceptors
02:40because it doesn't seem to be abating.
02:42You were mentioning, Hoda, the high success rate of intercepting the missiles and the drones being aimed from Iran at
02:50the GCC countries.
02:52Is there also, though, in the back of people's minds, a feeling that you are sitting ducks, given the proximity,
02:58as you pointed out?
03:01Well, there is certainly that feeling every day.
03:05The conversation among people is what do you think will happen today?
03:09How many ballistic missiles were shot at?
03:13And there's also that reality that some could very well escape the air defense system.
03:21And it takes one ballistic missile or one drone to cause a lot of damage.
03:25We haven't seen that in Qatar.
03:27But the number of injured and the number of killed has increased in Kuwait, has increased in the UAE.
03:35In Bahrain, for example, 32 people were wounded today.
03:41So certainly that is causing a lot of worry.
03:45How long will it last?
03:46And will they have enough time to replenish their stock of air defense interceptors?
03:54That is the big question people have.
03:56At the moment, all these governments, with how they have been successful, are reassuring people.
04:02But there is that worry, certainly.
04:04And there's also a worry that, for example, if Iran hits water plants, well, that would be a big blow
04:13to any of these countries,
04:14simply because there is no other source of water in the GCC area except for the sea.
04:21So that is also something that probably had governments scramble when the water plant in Bahrain was hit.
04:30So it's really a matter of continuously adapting to what is happening on the ground.
04:37And for people, it is a worry.
04:41Airports are opening.
04:42There are limited flights now to go to Europe.
04:46Many people are taking advantage of that.
04:49From this country, they can also drive to Saudi Arabia and take a flight from there.
04:54But, you know, I think people, if they can leave, they will leave because the big question is also how
05:02long will this all last?
05:03So it is, I would say it is a concern.
05:07I mean, when you hear these explosions, even if they're far away, even if they're up in the sky, it
05:12does get you.
05:13You have a shockwave.
05:14It gets you.
05:15Sometimes it's gut-wrenching because it's so loud and sometimes it's further away.
05:20So certainly people are in a heightened anxiety mode.
05:25Hoda, thank you very much indeed.
05:27Please stay safe.
05:27Hoda Abdulhamid, our correspondent there, joining us from Doha Live.
05:31Hoda.
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