Key facts
- Satellite imagery reviewed by the AP showed damage at more than two dozen US bases across the Middle East.
- Bellingcat counted at least 20 US military sites damaged across Qatar, Bahrain, the UAE, Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
- Iran's first assaults targeted air defenses, clearing the way for heavier strikes, per the AP analysis.
- The Navy's Bahrain logistics hub took heavy damage, and Adm. Daryl Caudle said the US was not returning soon.
- US Central Command told Congress in April that commercial location data could be exploited to target US personnel.
- Sky News found more than 1,300 Strava users sharing routes and workout timing in an August investigation.
Iran used commercial location data, social media accounts and fitness apps to establish patterns of life at US bases in the Middle East before missile and drone strikes, according to security experts and the US military. Imagery reportedly supplied by Russian satellites helped Iranian planners build an accurate picture of where US troops assembled and where to strike, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The strikes killed more than a dozen service members and wounded hundreds, according to the Los Angeles Times, and caused billions of dollars in damage to facilities and equipment. Satellite imagery reviewed by the Associated Press documented extensive destruction at more than two dozen US bases across the Middle East, with the AP analyzing about 40 military installations after a tip from regional officials. Bellingcat counted at least 20 US military sites damaged across Qatar, Bahrain, the UAE, Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
The AP found Iran's first assaults targeted air defenses, clearing the way for heavier strikes. A March 1 drone strike on Port Shuaiba in Kuwait killed multiple US soldiers and injured dozens more, according to the AP. The Navy's main logistics hub in Bahrain took such heavy damage that residents and non-essential personnel largely left. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle told a Navy budget hearing in August: "We're not getting back in there anytime soon. I just want to be completely honest with that."
US Central Command acknowledged to Congress in April the potential of "adversary exploitation of commercial location data to target or surveil U.S. personnel in theater." In recent months, congressional pressure pushed several branches to disable mobile advertising IDs on government-issued devices, and the Navy issued cyber threat hygiene recommendations. Sen. Ron Wyden and Rep. Pat Harrigan sent a September letter to the Pentagon decrying "the continued availability of commercial location data" from Pentagon facilities.