DUBAI: Iran launched more attacks on Washington's Gulf allies and Jordan on Saturday after a seventh straight night of US strikes on Iranian military targets, escalating the war one week after a ceasefire collapsed.
Kuwait came under sustained attack, with a desalination plant hit and operations at Kuwait International Airport suspended due to repeated missile and drone threats.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had struck a US military support centre at Camp Arifjan and destroyed a radar facility at Ali Al Salem Air Base. Kuwait Petroleum Corporation later said one of its oil facilities had been hit in "repeated Iranian attacks", causing significant damage and some injuries, according to the state news agency.
Kuwait's armed forces said they had intercepted Iranian ballistic missiles and drones early on Saturday, adding that a number of firefighters and oil sector workers had been injured while responding to the attacks.
Iran was responding to US attacks on bridges, power facilities and other infrastructure.
The secretary general of the Gulf Cooperation Council condemned recent Iranian attacks on Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan on Saturday, saying strikes on civilian infrastructure amounted to "war crimes".
"Iran's actions constitute a highly dangerous escalation, a grave violation of international law and the United Nations (UN) Charter, as well as war crimes requiring international accountability and prosecution, given the deliberate targeting of infrastructure and civilian facilities," Jasem Mohamed Al Budaiwi said, in a statement.
Iran's Health Ministry said on Saturday that 50 people had been killed and more than 500 injured in US strikes over the past three weeks, the semi-official ILNA news agency reported.
The IRGC targeted a site in Bahrain where US combat aircraft were gathered at Sheikh Isa Air Base and an intelligence data centre, Iranian state media reported.
The Guards said they had also destroyed at least two US fighter aircraft and three other aircraft during a missile and drone attack early on Saturday on the US base in Al Azraq, Jordan, according to Iranian state TV.
Reuters could not independently verify the reports.
SAUDI ARABIA ATTACKED
Iran also launched attacks on Saudi Arabia for the first time in about three months, according to two people familiar with the matter, triggering early warning alarms in Al Kharj, east of the capital Riyadh, and at Yanbu on the kingdom's Red Sea coast.
The people said one attack had targeted the Prince Sultan Air Base in Al Kharj, which hosts US forces.
Saudi state media did not elaborate on what triggered the early warnings and the government media office did not respond to a request for comment. The IRGC made no mention of any attack on Saudi Arabia.
A power generation and water desalination plant in Kuwait was hit in an Iranian attack, the country's Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy Ministry said in a statement. It was the second attack on Kuwaiti water desalination sites in two days.
Kuwait's Foreign Ministry said Iran's targeting of vital infrastructure endangered civilians and violated international law, adding it held Tehran fully responsible for the attacks. — AFP
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