Smoke seen rising from direction of UAE energy facility

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DUBAI: Smoke rose from the direction of a major UAE energy installation on Saturday (Mar 14), in what appeared to be the latest strike targeting the Gulf's petroleum facilities - hours after the US struck Iran's Kharg Island oil hub.

Clouds of dark black smoke were seen coming from Fujairah, which is home to a major port where Iranian attacks have already targeted an oil storage and trading hub. The port is also home to a key oil export terminal.

Local authorities, in a statement, said debris that fell after a successful drone interception had caused a fire, without specifying the location.

The incident came hours after President Donald Trump said the US military had bombed targets on Iran's Kharg Island, which handles almost all of Iran's crude exports, and threatened to hit the island's oil infrastructure.

Later at night, authorities said they were still battling the fire, adding that a Jordanian national had been injured.

Drone strikes hit the UAE's Fujairah energy installations earlier this month, with falling debris from an intercepted drone sparking a blaze, authorities said.

Since the beginning of the war, Iran has methodically targeted the Gulf's energy sites from Kuwait to Oman.

The strikes have mostly hit oil and gas fields or sprawling complexes, such as the massive Ras Tanura refinery in Saudi Arabia, the Ras Laffan gas processing base in Qatar and the complex housing the UAE's Ruwais refinery.

Iran has also effectively halted traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping lane through which about a fifth of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas normally pass.

The UAE has been targeted repeatedly with missile barrages and drone strikes, as Tehran unleashed retaliatory strikes across the Gulf after the US and Israel launched a war against Iran.

Later Saturday, the UAE foreign affairs ministry slammed the targeting of its consulate in Iraqi Kurdistan for the second time in a week.

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