The 24-hectare (60-acre) Al Udeid Air Base, located southwest of the capital Doha, is the forward headquarters for US Central Command, Al Jazeera reports.

Centcom directs US military operations in a huge swath of territory stretching from Egypt in the west to Kazakhstan in the east.

Established through a defence cooperation agreement in 1996, it is the Middle East’s largest US base and houses about 10,000 troops.