Iranian drone damages desalination plant in Bahrain

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An Iranian drone attack caused “material damage” to a desalination plant, Bahrain said Sunday morning.

It was the first time an Arab country has reported Iran targeting a desalination plant during the nine-day war.

Hundreds of desalination plants sit along the Persian Gulf coast, and the Arab countries in the region rely heavily on the facilities for their drinking water.

It comes as Israel on Sunday struck southern Lebanon, Beirut and an oil storage facility in Tehran as the war in the Middle East keeps escalating, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised “many surprises” for the next phase of the conflict.

Earlier Sunday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said a U.S. airstrike damaged an Iranian desalination plant on Qeshm Island, warning that in doing so “the U.S. set this precedent, not Iran.”

An explosion erupts following strikes near Azadi Tower close to Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran ( AFP via Getty Images )

Such infrastructure is critical for drinking water supplies in the parched deserts of the Gulf.

An Israeli attack on an oil storage facility in Tehran sent up pillars of fire that could be seen in Associated Press video as a glow against the Saturday night sky.

The sky over Iran’s capital was blanketed with smoke Sunday morning, hours after Israeli strikes hit oil facilities in Tehran, Associated Press footage showed.

Fars news agency reported that Saturday’s strikes hit four oil storage facilities and an oil production transfer center in Tehran and Alborz. Four tanker drivers in the center were killed, it reported.

The strikes sent up pillars of fire that could be seen in AP video as a glow against the Saturday night sky.

It appeared to be the first time a civil industrial facility has been targeted in the war.

The war, which erupted on Feb. 28 after joint U.S.-Israeli strikes hit Iran, has so far killed at least 1,230 people in the Islamic Republic, more than 300 in Lebanon and around a dozen in Israel, according to officials.

Elsewhere, a missile alert sounded Sunday morning in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.