Two of Iraq’s border crossings were attacked on Thursday during the latest round of hostilities overnight in the Middle East, according to officials and videos on social media verified by The New York Times. It was not immediately clear who launched the attacks.
The first attack occurred in the early morning hours of Thursday near the Iranian side of the Shalamcheh border crossing with Iraq in Iran’s Khuzestan province. Iranian and Iraqi media outlets reported that a rest station for police officers at the crossing had been struck by U.S. airstrikes.
U.S. Central Command, which oversees operations in the region, did not immediately respond to questions about the attack.
In a video, crowds can be seen fleeing as explosions ring out near the Iranian side of the crossing.
The footage, which circulated online early Thursday morning, shows people carrying suitcases and rucksacks running away from a blaze. The attacks killed two people, according to Iranian officials.
Additional footage of the aftermath, also verified by The Times, shows a damaged telecommunications tower inside a small compound within the border crossing facility.
The footage emerged shortly before U.S. Central Command said in a statement that it had completed its 12th consecutive night of strikes against Iranian military sites. The statement did not mention targeting of a border crossing facility.
In what appeared to be a retaliatory strike, the Abdali border crossing between Kuwait and Iraq was also hit on Thursday afternoon.
Gen. Saud Abdulaziz Al-Otaibi, a spokesman for Kuwait’s defense ministry, said in a statement that the crossing had come “under attack by hostile drones,” without specifying their origin, and that there had been no casualties. Since the war began in late February, Iran has launched missile and drone attacks at Kuwait as well as other nations in the Middle East, saying it is targeting U.S. military installations there.
The spokesman said in a second statement that the border crossing was also subjected to “repeated” attacks Thursday evening, but that no injuries were reported.
Videos verified by The Times showed dark clouds of smoke rising on the Kuwaiti side of the border crossing near a radio tower and billowing over several curved metal structures.
Another video verified by The Times shows multiple cars and trucks parked on the side of the road on the Iraqi side of the border, with people filming as clouds of smoke continue to emanate from the area.
Neither Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps nor U.S. Central Command has commented on the attack.
The Iraqi government has not commented on either attack.
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