Bahrain says Patriot system intercepted drone over homes 

A Bahraini official has said a Patriot air defence system intercepted an Iranian drone over a residential neighbourhood earlier this month, an account that apparently differs from the United States military’s own description of the same incident.

Bahrain’s government spokesperson made the disclosure on Saturday, referring to an attack on March 9 in the capital, Manama.

The interception had prevented a drone strike and saved lives, the spokesperson said.

The account given by the US military that day said an Iranian drone had struck a residential neighbourhood, injuring civilians.

On March 9, the US military’s Central Command posted on X that Russian and Iranian media had claimed a Patriot missile had missed its target and hit a neighbourhood in Bahrain. “LIE,” CENTCOM said, describing those reports as false.

CENTOM said that what had “really happened” was that “an Iranian drone struck a residential neighbourhood, injuring 32 civilians in Bahrain, including children who required medical treatment.”

Bahrain’s own Ministry of Interior had also posted on X on March 9, confirming that a 29-year-old Bahraini woman had been killed and eight people injured when a residential building in Manama was struck. It said the incident was the result of “Iranian aggression”.

The Bahrain Defence Force said at the time that its air defence systems had intercepted and destroyed 102 missiles and 171 drones since Iran began targeting the country on February 28, describing the attacks as a “brazen violation of international humanitarian law.”

The March 9 incidents took place during an intensifying wave of Iranian strikes across the Gulf, following the US-Israeli military attack against Iran that began on February 28.

An estimated 1,400 people have been killed in Iran and just over a thousand in Lebanon, where at least a million people have also been displaced.

Bahrain hosts the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet and Naval Forces Central Command, making it a strategically significant target.

Bahrain’s government has not addressed the discrepancy between its current account and the US military’s statement from March 9. Al Jazeera has contacted CENTCOM for comment on the discrepancy between its account and Bahrain’s.