Ir\u00e1n lanz\u00f3 10 misiles bal\u00edsticos contra objetivos estadounidenses en Qatar, hogar de la extensa base a\u00e9rea Al Udeid, solo quedaban dos bater\u00edas Patriot en la base, aproximadamente 44 soldados estadounidenses responsables de defender toda la base, incluido el cuartel general avanzado del CENTCOM en el Medio Oriente.<\/p>\n
As Iranian ballistic missiles were\u00a0flying toward a nearly empty Al Udeid Air Base<\/a>\u00a0in Qatar on Monday, a small crew of air defenders stayed behind to protect the largest American military installation in the Middle East. Thursday morning, Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, offered new details about that effort, which he said resulted in the largest single-event launch of\u00a0Patriot interceptors\u00a0<\/a>in U.S. military history. You can read more about that attack in our initial reporting\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Monday morning, three days after the Operation Midnight Hammer attack by U.S. Air Force\u00a0B-2 Spirit stealth bombers<\/a>\u00a0dropping 14\u00a030,000-pound GBU-57\/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator<\/a>\u00a0(MOP) bunker buster bombs on Iran\u2019s Fordow and Natanz nuclear facilities, \u201cwe began to receive indications and warnings that Iran intended to attack U.S. bases in the region that morning,\u201d Caine told reporters, including from\u00a0The War Zone<\/em>.<\/p>\n As a result, in consultation with U.S. CENTCOM commander Gen. Michael \u201cErik\u201d Kurilla, U.S. President Donald Trump ordered Al Udeid and other bases around the region to \u201cassume a minimum force posture,\u201d said Caine.\u00a0As we previously noted<\/a>, satellite images showed that most aircraft had left Al Udeid days before, and Navy ships departed from their base in Bahrain in anticipation of an Iranian response to any U.S. actions. You can see satellite imagery indicating the departure of aircraft from Al Udeid below.<\/p>\n