Iran's strikes on military bases have forced a large number of U.S. troops to participate in the war remotely from hotels and office buildings, reports show. Analysts point out that U.S. bases in the Middle East have inadequate defense systems against Iran, an adversary equipped with advanced weaponry unlike previous enemies. Iran is leveraging its regional advantages, including receiving tip-offs from local residents on the locations of American forces.
The New York Times reported Sunday that Iranian retaliatory strikes have inflicted severe damage on U.S. military bases, leaving most personnel — except those directly involved in fighter jet and airstrike operations — working from hotels and civilian offices across the Middle East.
The NYT said a significant number of the 13 military bases used by the United States in the region have become uninhabitable. The base in Kuwait, closest to Iran, sustained the heaviest damage, with six U.S. service members killed at the Shuaiba Tactical Operations Center (TOC). Radar systems and communications equipment were also damaged in Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
Approximately 40,000 U.S. troops were stationed in the Middle East when the war began, according to officials. U.S. Central Command dispersed thousands of them, relocating some as far as Europe. A large portion of the remaining forces are staying at locations other than their original bases.
Experts say the dispersal has hampered the U.S. ability to conduct the war. Master Sergeant Wes J. Bryant, a former U.S. Air Force special operations targeting specialist, said, "The U.S. military has the capability to set up temporary operations centers, but there will inevitably be a loss of combat effectiveness." He added, "You can't put all the equipment on the roof of a hotel, for example. Some of it is too large and unwieldy." The U.S. military responded by clarifying that it does not conduct operations from the rooftops of civilian hotels.
Another challenge is that the U.S. built bases and command centers close to what are now front lines during 20 years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Unlike the Taliban or Iraqi militias, which lacked ballistic missile systems, Iran possesses such weapons, making the threat far more difficult to counter. The U.S. had significantly expanded its bases in Middle Eastern countries during the Iraq War, but the changing nature of the adversary has exposed vulnerabilities in those installations.
The NYT also noted that an inadequate U.S. response at the outset of the war contributed to the dire situation. For instance, the roof of the command center at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, where one U.S. service member was killed in an Iranian strike, reportedly had no reinforcement. U.S. aerial refueling tankers were also rushed into deployment without time for regional acclimation or training. As a result, two U.S. KC-135 aerial refueling aircraft collided on the 12th of this month, killing six crew members.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has responded by accusing the U.S. military of "stationing troops in hotels and using civilians as shields." To track dispersed American forces, the IRGC has solicited tip-offs from local residents, telling them, "We have no choice but to identify and strike the Americans," and urging them not to rent hotels to U.S. troops and to stay away from them. Iran-backed militias in Iraq launched a drone swarm attack on a luxury hotel in Erbil.
