Drone strike near Suez Canal in Egypt raises new security threat in widening war

DUBAI, July 31 ------ A drone strike on gas vessels in Egypt's Mediterranean port of Damietta signaled a potential new front in the US-Iran war, raising the prospect of threats to navigation through the Suez Canal, one of the last remaining export routes for Saudi oil.

Egypt's cabinet said on Thursday that an initial investigation found an unidentified drone caused a fire on two vessels at Damietta port on Wednesday. The port lies near the Suez Canal, which links the Mediterranean and Red Seas. No group has claimed responsibility, the cabinet said. Trading sources familiar with the incident said the drone hit US-owned gas storage tanker Energos Winter, causing a fire that spread to a second vessel.

Overnight, the US military said it struck Iran's Revolutionary Guards' military command centers and drone facilities after Tehran fired at US forces in the region. Iranian state media, quoting the Guards, told US strikes killed three civilians and wounded two children on Qeshm Island, while three Guards members were killed in Zanjan province.

The governor of Khuzestan province, also quoted by state media, said two student dormitory complexes in the southwestern city of Ahvaz were damaged in the attacks. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it struck the Azraq military base in Jordan in response, attacking US F-35 fighter jets. The US military denied this, saying no US aircraft had been destroyed or damaged. "All missiles and drones were intercepted, or failed to reach targeted areas," US Central Command said.

US bases in Jordan have lately become primary Iranian targets. Jordan's armed forces said earlier on Thursday they had intercepted five Iranian missiles. The Guards also struck US assets at Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait, according to Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency. An Iranian attack hit a building owned by a Chinese company in northern Kuwait, killing a worker and inflicting significant damage, Kuwait's Defense Ministry said.

Source: gmanetwork.com