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Four people, including a Qatari child, were wounded early Wednesday after debris from an intercepted Iranian missile fell on a residential home in Doha, Qatar's interior ministry said, the latest incident in a weeks-long Iranian aerial campaign targeting Gulf states.
The ministry said Qatari air defences intercepted the incoming missile, with the resulting wreckage landing on a home in the Muriykh area, a residential neighbourhood in western Doha. All four injured sustained moderate wounds, according to officials.
Hours later, Qatar's Ministry of Education announced the immediate closure of all educational institutions across the country, including government schools and kindergartens. The closure, framed as "a preventative step," will extend through the end of the current week. Officials cited "current regional developments" as the basis for the decision.
Wednesday's injuries come against the backdrop of a sustained Iranian missile and drone campaign that has struck multiple Gulf states since late February, when the United States and Israel launched a series of strikes on Iran targeting its military and nuclear infrastructure.
Iran has since responded with retaliatory attacks on Gulf countries hosting American military assets, arguing that any state permitting its territory to be used against Iran constitutes a legitimate target.
Qatar, which hosts the Al-Udeid Air Base, one of the largest American military installations in the Middle East, has been among the most frequently struck countries in the region.
The small peninsula nation has also historically maintained unusually warm ties with Tehran, sharing with Iran the world's largest natural gas field, which accounts for the vast majority of Qatari government revenues. That relationship has offered little protection from the current conflict.
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