Doha [Qatar], March 19 : The third week of the conflict in West Asia has seen critical expansion in the scale of attacks mounted by both US-Israel and Tehran. On Wednesday night (local time) the Iranians hit back after an Israel strike targeted the South Pars Gas field. On their target Gas fields in Qatar.
Qatar's Ras Laffan Industrial City was hit by ballistic missiles from Iran, resulting in extensive damage, as per the country's Ministry of Defence. The attack is the second to take place in the last 12 hours at the largest liquefaction facility in the world.
According to QatarEnergy several of its LNG facilities were subject to Iranian missile attacks after the attack on Ras Laffan.
"In addition to the previous attack on Ras Laffan Industrial City on Wednesday that resulted in extensive damage to the Pearl GTL (Gas-to-Liquids) facility, QatarEnergy confirms that in the early hours of Thursday, several of its Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facilities were the subject of missile attacks, causing sizeable fires and extensive further damage. Emergency response teams were deployed immediately to contain the resulting damage with no reported casualties.," its stated.
Ras Laffan Industrial City is Qatar's main energy hub and has sustained extensive damage after being attacked.
Sharing the details in a post on X, the Ministry of Defence said, "The Ministry of Defense of State of Qatar announces that State of Qatar was attacked ballistic missiles, from Iran, which targeted Ras Laffan Industrial City and caused damages. May Allah protect Qatar, its Amir, its people, and all residents on its land."
https://x.com/MOD_Qatar/status/2034432881045520612?s=20
Qatar's Ministry of Interior said that the civil defence fully contained two of the three fires in the Ras Laffan Industrial Area, with no injuries reported.
"Cooling and securing operations at the sites are ongoing, while the Explosives Group of the Internal Security Force (Lekhwiya) is carrying out its tasks in handling any hazardous elements", it added in a post on X.
https://x.com/MOI_QatarEn/status/2034452891423883615?s=20
As tensions rise in West Asia, Qatar on Thursday, strongly condemned the Iranian targeting of energy facilities in Saudi Arabia and UAE in the last two days, calling it a blatant violation of international law and a serious threat to global energy security, navigation, and the environment.
Qatar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the Iranian attacks on countries in the region have crossed all red lines by targeting civilians, civilian objects, and vital facilities, and stressed the need to spare the region the consequences of these unjustified attacks and to work towards de-escalation to restore regional and international security and stability.
https://x.com/MofaQatar_EN/status/2034440803406237831?s=20
Qatar has declared the military and security attaches at the Iranian Embassy, along with their staff, "persona non grata" and has requested that they leave the country within 24 hours, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Thursday.
The City is an industrial hub, located about 80 kilometres north of Doha and is a bedrock of the country's economy and the largest liquefaction facility in the world, according to the International Energy Agency.