WASHINGTON — Newly obtained photographs show Iranian missile and drone strikes caused extensive damage at US military sites across the Middle East, challenging earlier descriptions of limited impact, according to CBS News on Tuesday.The images, provided to CBS News by active-duty service members on condition of anonymity because of military media restrictions, show damage at several US positions in the region.“This is major damage to our bases that hasn’t been communicated to the American public,” one deployed service member told the network. “We’re standing there with our eyes closed getting punched in the face.”The photos show damaged buildings, vehicles and military equipment at bases in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The material provides a rare view of the impact of the Iranian attacks, although the full extent of the damage and its effect on US operations has not been established.The revelations also sharpen the contrast with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s previous description of Iranian projectiles that reached American installations as “squirters”, a term used to describe missiles or drones that evaded US defences but were not considered to have caused decisive damage.One photograph from a Saudi base shows what CBS News described as a direct hit on the rear section of a Boeing E-3 Sentry aircraft, with its tail severed from its charred fuselage.Other images from the base show heavily damaged buildings and barracks alongside concrete “T-wall” barriers, which are designed primarily to provide protection against threats such as grenades and mortar fire.Similarly grim pictures were captured at Camp Buehring in Kuwait, a major staging area for US Army ground troops, armored vehicles and some aircraft, according to the report. The post is located in a remote desert region far northwest of Kuwait City.The images emerged as the US Defense Department’s inspector general released a report estimating equipment losses from the Iran war at up to $3.7 billion, including nearly 60 aircraft.In a mandatory report to Congress, the inspector general said US Central Command reported Iranian strikes on US bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman and Jordan.“These are not ‘squirters’ getting through,” the service member said, referring to terminology used by Hegseth following a March 1 attack on Kuwait’s Port of Shuaiba that killed six US troops.“We’re not defending these bases. We’re just watching them get destroyed,” the service member added.
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