# Ali Al Salem Air Base Type: Company Source: Space & Defense Intelligence Brief — https://getspacebrief.com/entity/ali-al-salem-air-base Canonical HTML page: https://getspacebrief.com/entity/ali-al-salem-air-base ## Timeline - **2026-07-18**: Kuwait Airport Suspended, IRGC Claims Base Hits — Kuwait International Airport suspends operations due to repeated missile and drone threats. Iran's Revolutionary Guards claim to have struck Camp Arifjan, destroyed a radar at Ali Al Salem, and hit Sheikh Isa Air Base in Bahrain. - **2026-07-18**: Iran Strikes Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan — Early morning, the IRGC launches ballistic missile and drone attacks on multiple US‑allied sites: a desalination plant and oil facility in Kuwait, plus air bases in Bahrain and Jordan. Kuwait's airport is forced to close, and casualties are reported. - **2026-07-18**: Iranian Retaliation on Gulf States — Iran launches ballistic missiles and drones at targets in Kuwait, Bahrain, and Jordan. Kuwait’s desalination plant and airport hit; oil facility damaged; IRGC claims aircraft destroyed in Jordan. - **2026-07-17**: Infrastructure Targeting and Maritime Escalation — US strikes expand to bridges and military logistics infrastructure. Iran retaliates by hitting a power and desalination plant in Kuwait, targeting US bases, and interdicting vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. US Marines board a tanker. Brent crude surges 4%. - **2026-07-17**: Seventh Night of US Strikes — US forces hit bridges, power facilities, and additional infrastructure deep inside Iran, broadening the target set. - **2026-07-17**: U.S. Casualties in Jordan — Two U.S. service members killed and one goes missing in an Iranian attack on a base in Jordan; U.S. death toll reaches 16. - **2026-07-17**: Oil Prices Spike — Crude oil prices climb more than 4% to the highest level in over a month amid fears of supply disruption. - **2026-07-16**: Iran announces dual strikes on US bases — State broadcaster IRIB reports that the Army's Operation Lightning (phase 9) struck Al‑Azraq base in Jordan with drones, hitting radar, comms, and fuel tanks; simultaneously, the IRGC's Operation Nasr 2 (wave 8) struck Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait. Both operations framed as retaliation for US strikes that killed 7 Iranian soldiers. - **2026-07-12**: First Night of Renewed U.S. Strikes — U.S. Central Command launches strikes on Iranian bridges, power facilities, and infrastructure, beginning a nightly campaign. - **2026-07-11**: US Begins Nightly Strikes — The United States launches the first in a series of nightly attacks on Iranian military targets, initially focusing on weapons facilities. - **2026-07-11**: US Begins Nightly Strikes — The US launches the first of what would become seven straight nights of airstrikes on Iranian military targets, initially focusing on logistics hubs. - **2026-07-11**: Ceasefire Collapses — Interim ceasefire between U.S.-led forces and Iran breaks down after about a month, paving the way for a resumption of hostilities. - **2026-07-10**: Ceasefire Collapses — A US‑Iran ceasefire breaks down, opening the door to renewed hostilities. - **2026-07-07**: US-Iran Ceasefire Collapses — A fragile ceasefire agreement falls apart, prompting both sides to resume hostilities. ## Recent coverage (4 stories) ### 7 Officers Died, 2 US Bases Hit: Iran’s Drone Barrage Challenges Space‑Enabled Defenses 2026-07-20 08:04:37 · Sentiment: Bearish · Impact: 8/10 · Sources: 3 Iran’s claimed drone and missile strikes on Al‑Azraq and Ali Al Salem airbases on July 16 threaten the terrestrial infrastructure that underpins U.S. space‑based surveillance and targeting networks. With 7 Iranian soldiers killed in prior U.S. strikes, the escalation cycle now jeopardizes the forward bases crucial for GPS, satellite communications, and ISR. Full story: https://getspacebrief.com/story/iran-strikes-us-bases-space-defense-2026 ### Iran Claims 2 US Fighters Destroyed, Hits Air Bases; Oil Jumps 4% 2026-07-20 04:47:59 · Sentiment: Very Bearish · Impact: 8/10 · Sources: 3 Iran’s sweeping missile and drone attacks on U.S. air bases in Jordan and Bahrain highlight the vulnerability of forward-deployed airpower and the critical role of space-based ISR in assessing damage. Satellite imagery from Copernicus Sentinel-2 captured smoke from the Kuwait oil strike, underlining how orbital assets now shape battlefield narratives. Full story: https://getspacebrief.com/story/iran-gulf-strikes-space-defense-satellites ### Iran Strikes 3 US Air Bases, Claims 5 Aircraft Destroyed in Retaliatory Attacks 2026-07-19 22:27:35 · Sentiment: Very Bearish · Impact: 8/10 · Sources: 7 Iran's IRGC struck US air bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, and Jordan, claiming to have destroyed five aircraft. The attacks follow seven nights of US strikes and expose vulnerabilities in forward-deployed air power against ballistic missiles and drones. Full story: https://getspacebrief.com/story/iran-strikes-us-air-bases-claims-aircraft-destroyed ### 7th Night of US Strikes on Iran: Oil Up 4% as Hormuz Chokepoint Threatens Satcom 2026-07-18 08:00:37 · Sentiment: Very Bearish · Impact: 8/10 · Sources: 6 The confrontation’s shift to infrastructure targeting and naval blockade stresses space-based intelligence, surveillance, and drone warfare capabilities, with oil prices spiking 4% as global energy transit faces unprecedented disruption. Full story: https://getspacebrief.com/story/us-iran-escalation-space-defense --- This page is a machine-readable summary. Sentiment measures the directional read of each development for this entity, not the tone of the reporting; impact weights consequence, not syndication reach. See https://getspacebrief.com/guides/methodology for the full editorial methodology.