Iran Hits Kuwaiti Oil Refinery         03/20 06:14

   A Kuwaiti oil refinery came under Iranian drone attack early Friday and 
sirens in Israel warned of incoming fire, while explosions boomed over Tehran 
from Israeli strikes as the country marked the Persian New Year.

   DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- A Kuwaiti oil refinery came under 
Iranian drone attack early Friday and sirens in Israel warned of incoming fire, 
while explosions boomed over Tehran from Israeli strikes as the country marked 
the Persian New Year.

   The war that has rocked the global economy neared the end of its third wee k 
with Iran showing no signs of letting up on its attacks on Gulf region energy 
infrastructure. Kuwait said two waves of drone strikes at its Mina Al-Ahmadi 
oil refinery sparked a fire and crews were working to control the blaze.

   The refinery, which can process some 730,000 barrels of oil per day, was 
already damaged Thursday in another Iranian attack. It is one of three oil 
refineries in Kuwait, a small, oil-rich Gulf nation.

   Iran stepped up its attacks on energy sites in Gulf Arab states after Israel 
on Wednesday bombed Iran's massive South Pars offshore natural gas field in the 
Persian Gulf.

   Loud explosions could also be heard in Jerusalem after the Israeli army 
warned of incoming Iranian missiles.

   In a rare statement, the country's new Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba 
Khamenei said Iran's enemies need to have their "security" taken away. Khamenei 
hasn't been seen since he succeeded his father, the 86-year-old Ayatollah Ali 
Khamenei, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the first day of the war.

   His remarks came in a statement issued on his behalf and sent to President 
Masoud Pezeshkian, after Israel killed Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib 
earlier this week.

   Explosions shake Dubai and warehouse in Bahrain set ablaze

   Heavy explosions shook Dubai as air defenses intercepted early incoming fire 
over the city, where people were observing Eid al-Fitr, the end of the holy 
Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, and mosques made the day's first call to 
prayers.

   Bahrain's Interior Ministry said a fire broke out after shrapnel from an 
intercepted projectile landed on a warehouse, and Saudi Arabia reported 
shooting down multiple drones targeting its oil-rich Eastern Province.

   The renewed attacks came after an intense day that saw Iran hit energy 
infrastructure around the region and launch more than a dozen missile salvos at 
Israel following the attack on South Pars.

   South Pars, the Iranian part of the world's largest gas field, is located 
offshore in the Persian Gulf and owned jointly with Qatar. With some 80% of 
power generated in Iran coming from natural gas, the attack posed a direct 
threat to the country's electricity supplies.

   Fears grow of global energy crisis

   Late Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country 
would hold off on any further attacks on the gas field at the request of U.S. 
President Donald Trump after the Iranian response sent oil prices skyrocketing.

   Netanyahu also claimed Iran's capability to produce ballistic missiles had 
been taken out, but the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard insisted in comments 
released Friday that they were still in production.

   "We are producing missiles even during war conditions, which is amazing, and 
there is no particular problem in stockpiling," spokesman Gen. Ali Mohammad 
Naeini was quoted as saying in Iran's state-run IRAN newspaper.

   Naeini, who was killed early Friday in an airstrike, according to Iranian 
state television, said Iran had no intention of seeking a quick end to the war.

   "These people expect the war to continue until the enemy is completely 
exhausted," he said. "This war must end when the shadow of war is lifted from 
the country."

   Beyond Iran's attacks on its Gulf Arab neighbors, its stranglehold on 
shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway through which a 
fifth of the world's oil and other critical goods are transported, has caused 
rising concerns of a global energy crisis.

   Brent crude oil, the international standard, which spiked to more than $119 
a barrel during Iran's attacks Thursday, was around $107 in morning trading on 
Friday, up more than 47% since Israel and the United States attacked Iran on 
Feb. 28 to start the conflict.

   Sirens in Israel and explosions in Tehran

   In Israel, sirens early Friday warned of attacks on Jerusalem and on the 
north, sending people again scrambling to shelters. There were no immediate 
reports of casualties.

   Not long after Israel announced that it had begun new strikes on Iran, the 
sound of explosions were heard in Tehran, as Iranians marked Nowruz, or the 
Persian New Year. Associated Press journalists in Tehran heard more airstrikes 
targeting the capital just before noon.

   Israel's army later said it had launched more strikes on targets east of 
Tehran.

   In addition to steadily striking Iran, Israel has regularly hit Lebanon, 
targeting Iran-backed Hezbollah.

   On Friday, it broadened its attacks to Syria, saying it hit infrastructure 
there in response to attacks on the minority Druze population in southern 
Sweida province. Syria's state-run SANA news agency did not immediately 
acknowledge the attack.

   Israel, which has a significant Druze population, previously has intervened 
in defense of the Druze in Syria, launching dozens of airstrikes on convoys of 
government fighters and even striking the Syrian Defense Ministry headquarters 
in central Damascus.

   Israel's police and domestic security service announced Friday that they had 
arrested a reservist who worked with the country's Iron Dome missile defense 
system on allegations he had been selling sensitive security information to 
Iran. The agency said the soldier had been in contact with Iranian intelligence 
for several months.

   More than 1,300 people in Iran have been killed during the war. Israeli 
strikes against the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon have displaced more 
than 1 million people, according to the Lebanese government, which says more 
than 1,000 people have been killed. Israel says it has killed more than 500 
Hezbollah militants.

   In Israel, 15 people have been killed by Iranian missile fire. Four people 
were also killed in the occupied West Bank by an Iranian missile strike.

   At least 13 U.S. military members have been killed.

   UAE arrests five accused of attempting to undermine country's financial 
stability

   The UAE said Friday it disrupted what it called "a terrorist network funded 
and operated by Lebanon's Hezbollah and Iran."

   It arrested five men accused of laundering money, alleging they were 
"operating within the country under a fictitious commercial cover" that sought 
to carry out schemes that would threaten the country's financial stability.

   It published images of five prisoners on its state-run WAM news agency, 
without identifying them.