Israel says Haifa oil refinery hit in Iranian missile attack 

Israel says an oil refinery in the northern city of Haifa has been struck in an Iranian missile attack, but no “significant” damage was reported, as Tehran continues to retaliate across the region for strikes on its energy infrastructure.

In a statement on Thursday, Energy Minister Eli Cohen said power was briefly disrupted as a result of the attack on the Oil Refineries Ltd facility before being restored for most customers.

“The damage to the power grid in the north is localised and not significant,” Cohen said.

“Also, in the barrage towards the north, there was no significant damage to Israeli infrastructure sites.”

Iran has carried out a wave of missile and drone strikes across the Middle East since Israel and the United States launched a war against the country late last month.

This week, Tehran targeted several oil and gas facilities in the Gulf region in response to an Israeli attack on its South Pars offshore gasfield on Wednesday.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Thursday that his country would show “ZERO restraint” if its infrastructure is struck again, as the Israeli attack on the South Pars gasfield continued to spur condemnation.

Reporting from the Iranian capital Tehran, Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) confirmed that it fired towards Haifa and Ashdod, a city in southern Israel.

“The Iranians are saying that this is in retaliation for the attacks on the South Pars facility,” Hashem said.

It was not immediately clear whether the Ashdod facility was hit.

Separately on Thursday, Israel’s rescue service said four people were wounded in a rocket attack in Kiryat Shmona, a town in northern Israel, near the border with Lebanon.

Medics said they treated a 60-year-old man in serious condition with shrapnel injuries; a 68-year-old woman with a head injury and two men in their 20s with shrapnel wounds.

In addition to its attacks on Iran, the Israeli military has launched an intensified aerial and ground assault on Lebanon since early March, killing more than 1,000 people.

The Israeli attacks in Lebanon began after Lebanese armed group Hezbollah launched rockets into northern Israel in response to the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on February 28, the first day of the US-Israeli war on Iran.

Hezbollah has fired a series of missile barrages into northern Israel in response to the Israeli military’s deadly attacks across Lebanon.