US military downs 2 Iranian attack drones as Iran claims a strike on a US radar in Bahrain

The U.S. military said it intercepted two Iranian attack drones headed toward Bahrain, as the Revolutionary Guard claimed it struck a U.S. early warning radar system in the kingdom. The Guard also said a tanker struck a naval mine while attempting to sail through the Strait of Hormuz, causing an explosion. Neither Iran’s claim of striking the radar nor its account of the tanker incident could be independently verified. Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Friday.

Read our full coverage here. US says it intercepted Iranian drones after Iran claims strike on US radar in Bahrain The U.S. military said Friday it shot down two Iranian attack drones headed toward Bahrain, denying Iran’s claim that it had struck a U.S. radar system in the kingdom. CENTCOM, the U.S. command center covering the region, said there were no injuries or damage. Iran's official IRNA news agency cited a Revolutionary Guard statement that said the attack on the radar system followed a U.S. strike on a telecommunications pole in the southern Iranian port of Sirik.

It was Iran's first report of targeting a facility in Bahrain since September. During an air war that began in February, Iran targeted U.S. bases in neighboring Arab nations including Bahrain in retaliation for U.S. strikes. Since then, Iran has routinely targeted oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, the critical waterway for international oil shipments. Bahrain's Ministry of Information did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Iran says a tanker struck a mine in the Strait of Hormuz Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said Friday that a liquefied petroleum gas tanker struck a mine, causing an explosion, while trying to sail through the Strait of Hormuz, according to the state-run IRNA news agency. The Guard said the vessel ignored repeated warnings while transiting the eastern part of the strait. The claim could not be independently verified, and there was no immediate report of the incident from the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, a British military agency that monitors incidents at sea.

Iranians mourn 350 unidentified soldiers from Iran-Iraq war More than 38 years after the Iran-Iraq war ended, the remains of hundreds of unidentified soldiers were carried through Iranian cities Friday in one of the largest such funerals in recent years. In Tehran, thousands joined a procession for the remains of 110 soldiers. Funerals for another 240 were held in other cities. The remains were recently recovered from former battlefields.

Trucks carrying flag-draped coffins passed near Tehran University as mourners dressed in black crowded around them, many weeping. President Masoud Pezeshkian and senior officials, including acting Revolutionary Guard chief Gen. Mostafa Izadi, attended the event. “Against the enemies, we are continuing the same as our martyrs did during the Iran-Iraq war," Izadi told reporters. Israeli fire kills 3 in Gaza, including a 12-year-old, health officials say Israeli tank shelling on Friday in central Gaza killed three people, including a woman, a father and his 12-year-old son, according to health officials at Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital.

The tank shelling in the eastern part of Deir al-Balah city also wounded 20 others, most of them children, the hospital said. Israel’s military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Friday’s casualties are the latest in Gaza, where near-daily Israeli fire and airstrikes have continued more than one year after a ceasefire deal was reached between Israel and Hamas. At least 1,600 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire, according to the territory’s Health Ministry.

Baby boy who died from hypothermia raises worries about the winter ahead in Gaza A 9-month-old infant in Gaza died from hypothermia, becoming the first reported cold-related death of the winter season, health officials said Friday. Kanan Ahmed Arqiq was living with his family in a tent that provided little protection from the cold and was flooded by rains earlier this week, family members said. Outside the hospital, Ahmed Arqiq, the infant’s father, held up his tiny body and a certificate attributing his death to severe cold.

“Their tent was torn, worn out. Their clothes, mattresses, blankets, everything was soaked with rainwater,” said Ali Abou Moussa, the boy's grandfather. The majority of Gaza’s roughly 2 million people live in tents and makeshift shelters, after Israel’s military campaign destroyed or damaged most buildings. The United Nations and other aid agencies have accused Israel of blocking the entry of needed aid, including shelter and winter supplies, but the Israeli military denies the claims.

Last winter, 10 Palestinians died due to complications from the cold, Gaza’s Health Ministry said. ___ This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.