Israeli strikes push death toll to above 300 in Lebanon
Dubai: Bahrain accused Iran of striking a desalination plant on Sunday, raising fears that civilian infrastructure may become fair game in the war, as Iran’s President vowed to expand the country’s attacks on American targets across the region in the face of intense US and Israeli airstrikes.
A late-night Israeli strike on an oil facility engulfed parts of Iran’s capital, Tehran, in smoke on Sunday, while Israel renewed attacks in Lebanon. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to press ahead with the nine-day-old campaign, which has rippled across the region and appears to have no end in sight.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian threatened on Sunday to step up attacks on American targets across the Middle East. He appeared to backtrack from conciliatory comments toward his Gulf neighbours on Saturday. Those comments, in which he apologized for attacks on their soil, were quickly contradicted by Iranian hard-liners.
In Lebanon, Israeli strikes pushed the death toll to above 300 after Israel ordered tens of thousands to evacuate ahead of an offensive aimed at stamping out the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.
The war, which Israel and the United States launched with airstrikes on February 28, has so far killed at least 1,230 people in Iran, over 300 in Lebanon and about a dozen in Israel, according to officials. Six US troops have also been killed.
The conflict has rattled global markets, disrupted air travel and left Iran’s leadership weakened by hundreds of Israeli and American airstrikes.
Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s Parliament, said on Sunday that the war’s effect on the oil industry would continue to spiral, warning it could soon become harder to both produce and sell oil.
Some regional producers, including in Iraq, have already curbed output amid dangers in the Strait of Hormuz.
The Gulf nations of Bahrain, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, reported additional Iranian missiles launched toward them on Sunday, including several that hit new categories of civilian infrastructure.
The UAE said Iran launched more than 100 missiles and drones in new barrages. Only four drones fell at unnamed locations, the country’s defence ministry said.
Bahrain accused Iran of indiscriminately attacking civilian targets and damaging one of its desalination plants, though its electricity and water authority said supplies remained online. The island nation, home to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, has been among the countries targeted by Iranian drones and missiles. Attacks have hit hotels, ports and residential towers and killed at least one person.
Iran also said on Sunday that overnight strikes from Israel hit four oil storage tankers and a petroleum transfer terminal, killing four people. Witnesses in Tehran said the smoke was so thick from a fire that engulfed the north Tehran oil depot that it felt as if the sun had not risen.
The Iranian Red Crescent Society said that about 10,000 civilian structures across the country had been damaged, including homes, schools and medical facilities. It warned Tehran residents to take precautions against toxic air pollution and the risk of acid rain after Israeli strikes set fires at oil depots in the area.
Israel renewed its assault early Sunday on parts of Lebanon, where health officials reported at least 394 people have been killed in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
Health Minister Rakan Nassereddine said that 83 children and 82 women were among those killed. The Israeli military has ordered large swaths of the country to evacuate. Lebanese officials have reported more than 400,000 displaced during an offensive that Israel’s military has said is aimed at stamping out Iran-supported forces there.
In Beirut, sheltering families crammed into schools, slept in cars or in open areas near the Mediterranean Sea, where some burned firewood to keep warm while awaiting basic supplies. The government says it’s soon repurposing in a large sports stadium to shelter thousands more.
