{"id":405693,"date":"2026-04-22T20:30:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T20:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/405693\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T20:30:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T20:30:13","slug":"israel-iran-unlawful-march-attacks-on-energy-infrastructure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/405693\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel, Iran: Unlawful March Attacks on Energy Infrastructure"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Beirut) \u2013\u00a0Israeli<\/a> and\u00a0Iranian<\/a> attacks in mid-March 2026 on vital energy infrastructure were unlawfully indiscriminate and could trigger profound economic consequences for millions of people in the region and globally, Human Rights Watch said today. The attacks on the facilities in Iran and\u00a0Qatar<\/a> may amount to war crimes.<\/p>\n

On March 18, Israeli forces\u00a0attacked<\/a> Iran\u2019s South Pars Gas Field, an important\u00a0source<\/a> of national gas for Iran\u2019s domestic consumption. Hours later on March 18, and again on March 19, Iranian forces attacked oil and gas infrastructure at Qatar\u2019s Ras Laffan liquefied natural gas facility, which\u00a0provides<\/a> one-fifth of the world\u2019s supply. The tit-for-tat attacks are among a series of unlawful\u00a0attacks<\/a> on energy infrastructure by Israel and Iran since the latest conflict in the Middle East began in February.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnlawful attacks on key oil and energy infrastructure have foreseeable knock-on economic impacts that could prove harmful to millions of people,\u201d said\u00a0Joey Shea<\/a>, senior Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates researcher at Human Rights Watch. \u201cIsrael\u2019s attack on the South Pars Gas Field damaged infrastructure indispensable for the survival of Iranians, while Iran\u2019s attack on Qatar\u2019s Ras Laffan gas infrastructure threatens food security for millions around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Human Rights Watch investigated both attacks, analyzing official government and company statements, satellite imagery, and videos of the aftermath. Human Rights Watch wrote to both governments on March 26 seeking clarification about the attacks. Israeli authorities responded on March 30, stating that their \u201ctargeting processes are governed by a structured and binding framework designed to ensure the accurate identification of lawful military targets.\u201d Iranian authorities have not responded.<\/p>\n

The attacks damaged both facilities, based on satellite imagery at different spatial resolutions Human Rights Watch analyzed. Extensive damage was identified in at least four sections of the South Pars Gas Field complex, while two sections of Ras Laffan Industrial City in Qatar sustained damage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Under international humanitarian law applicable to the armed conflict in the Middle East, oil, gas, and other energy infrastructure are presumptively civilian objects but they can become military objectives if used to support the military. However, attacking them would be unlawfully disproportionate if the expected harm to civilians and civilian structures exceeded the anticipated military gain. Serious violations of the laws of war ordered or committed with criminal intent\u2014that is, deliberately or recklessly\u2014are war crimes.<\/p>\n

At a March 19 news conference, when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was asked whether he approved the strike and if US President Donald Trump was aware of the strike, he\u00a0responded<\/a> that \u201cIsrael acted alone against the Asaluyeh gas compound.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a media\u00a0interview<\/a> also on March 19, the Israeli embassy spokesperson in London said that the South Pars Gas Field \u201cis not only a civilian infrastructure, even though it is, it is also a dual use infrastructure and has been helping the Iranian IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] forces build their capacities specifically aiming at the ballistic missile program within Iran. They have been replenishing their missiles with the help of that gas structure. So, it is not only a civilian infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, neither Israel nor Iran has demonstrated that the facilities they targeted were military objectives. Human Rights Watch was unable to determine the extent to which either facility was used for military purposes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to the International Energy Agency, 80 percent of Iran\u2019s natural gas\u00a0comes<\/a>\u00a0from<\/a> South Pars, and natural gas is\u00a0responsible<\/a> for 79 percent of Iran\u2019s electricity, including for heating, lighting, cooking, and industrial use. Before the conflict, the Ras Laffan Industrial City provided a fifth of the world\u2019s supply of liquified natural gas. QatarEnergy, Qatar\u2019s national oil and gas company, which administers Ras Laffan, is the world\u2019s\u00a0largest<\/a> liquified natural gas producer, with\u00a0countries<\/a> in Asia heavily dependent on its supply.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This attack and the broader liquified natural gas supply disruption from the continued uncertainty about shipping in the Strait of Hormuz could have a broader global impact, particularly on access to food and other necessities. Natural gas is a key input in the\u00a0production<\/a> of nitrogen-based fertilizers, and it drives domestic energy prices affecting the cost of many other everyday consumption goods and services, such as transportation to work, schools, and hospitals.<\/p>\n

Human Rights Watch analyzed low-resolution satellite imagery captured before and after the attack on South Pars and identified extensive damage in at least four sections of the complex.<\/p>\n

An image from March 29 shows fire damage to multiple structures within the\u00a0third<\/a>,\u00a0fourth<\/a>,\u00a0fifth<\/a>, and\u00a0sixth<\/a> refineries in South Pars. The same structures appeared intact in imagery captured in the early morning of March 18.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Part of this damage is also visible in videos posted to social media from the early afternoon of March 18, showing the aftermath of the attack. These videos initially geolocated by the volunteer platform GeoConfirmed, and further corroborated by Human Rights Watch, show active fires and smoke plumes rising from at least two of these refineries, the fourth and sixth.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Damage across several production lines included on refineries third and fourth are visible on very high-resolution satellite imagery from March 21, included in an\u00a0article<\/a> by the German media outlet WirtschaftsWoche.<\/p>\n

In a\u00a0statement<\/a> published by Tasnim news agency on March 18, Iran\u2019s National Iranian Gas Company said the attack damaged\u00a0\u201cpart of the refining units\u201d and added that a fire at the South Pars facility was extinguished, with equipment cooling operations under way. Eskandar Pasalar, the governor of Assaluyeh,\u00a0said<\/a> that several phases were taken out of operation \u201cin order to control and prevent the speed of fire,\u201d Iran\u2019s Fars news agency reported.<\/p>\n

Ahmed Moussa, a spokesperson for Iraq\u2019s Electricity Ministry,\u00a0told<\/a> the Iraqi News Agency that, \u201cas a result of the repercussions of developments in the region, Iranian gas flows to Iraq stopped completely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Human Rights Watch also investigated Iran\u2019s attacks on Qatar\u2019s Ras Laffan Industrial City on March 18 and 19 and reviewed high-resolution satellite imagery.\u00a0<\/p>\n

WirtschaftsWoche published a\u00a0damage assessment<\/a> over two sections in Ras Laffan industrial complex based on very high-resolution satellite imagery from March 22. The imagery shows severe damage over two sections labeled as LNG Liquefaction Plant and Pearl Gas-to-Liquids (GTL) Plant in Ras Laffan Industrial City.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Analysis<\/a> from WirtschaftsWoche shows damage within the LNG Liquefaction Plant to parts of production lines 4 and 6 including a heat exchange tower in line 6 that appears collapsed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The adjacent building shows visible burn scars. An additional tower appears severely damaged, with the upper sections missing. In the Pearl GTL Plant severe damage in production line 2, including to a chemical plant, is also visible on satellite imagery from March 22. Human Rights Watch compared it with a high-resolution imagery from February 10 and 16 that shows no damage within the LNG Liquefaction Plant and the Pearl GTL Plant.<\/p>\n

At the LNG Liquefication Plant, the damaged production lines 4 and 6 total 12.8 million tons a year, approximately 17 percent of Qatar\u2019s exports, based on a March 19 statement by QatarEnergy. Saad al-Kaabi, Qatar\u2019s energy minister and the CEO of QatarEnergy,\u00a0said<\/a> the damage is expected \u201cto take up to five years to repair, impacting supply to markets in Europe and Asia.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

On March 19, Shell, which jointly owns Pearl GTL with QatarEnergy,\u00a0said<\/a> that\u00a0\u201ca fire that broke out within the Pearl GTL facility as a result of the incident was rapidly extinguished.\u201d Shell said an initial assessment\u00a0confirmed<\/a> \u201caround one year for full repair of train two at the Pearl GTL (Gas-to-Liquids) facility.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

LNG terminals are massive and complex infrastructure. Pearl Gas-to-Liquids is the world\u2019s largest GTL plant and \u201cone of the world\u2019s largest, most complex and challenging energy projects ever commissioned,\u201d\u00a0according<\/a> to Shell.<\/p>\n

After Israel\u2019s attack on South Pars, Iran\u00a0threatened<\/a> to retaliate against energy infrastructure in the Gulf, specifically\u00a0identifying<\/a> Saudi Arabia\u2019s Samref refinery and Jubail petrochemical complex, the UAE\u2019s al-Hosn gas field and Qatar\u2019s Mesaieed petrochemical complex and holding company, and the Ras Laffan refinery as targets. The Revolutionary Guard Corps\u00a0said<\/a> that the facilities had \u201cbecome direct and legitimate targets and would be struck within the next hours.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fars News, a media outlet affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards,\u00a0said<\/a> on March 18 that \u201cthe war pendulum has effectively swung from the state of limited and base-bound battles toward a \u2018full-scale economic war.\u2019\u201d The outlet<\/a> said, \u201cWe consider the targeting of the source country’s fuel, energy, and gas infrastructure to be a legitimate cause for us, and at the first opportunity, we will retaliate with utmost severity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The attacks by both Israel and Iran raise critical issues of long-term disproportionate impact. Guidance from the International Committee of the Red Cross provides that proportionality assessments need to consider \u201creasonably foreseeable\u201d indirect environmental impacts. These include long-term or\u00a0\u201creverberating\u201d effects<\/a> on the water, food systems, and the health of civilians. Attacks against military objectives are also unlawful if they are expected to cause \u201cwidespread, long-term and severe<\/a>\u201d damage to the natural environment, measured in months or years.<\/p>\n

International humanitarian law also prohibits warring parties from attacking, destroying, removing, or rendering useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, which can include energy infrastructure. The importance of\u00a0South Pars Gas Field<\/a> for\u00a0domestic electricity production<\/a> in Iran may make it indispensable to survival of Iran\u2019s population. Electricity is fundamental to nearly every aspect of living and participating in present-day societies and access to\u00a0electricity<\/a> is a human right, Human Rights Watch said.<\/p>\n

The obligations of warring parties under international humanitarian law are not contingent on the other party\u2019s compliance. Violations by one side may not be justified on the basis of another party\u2019s failure to meet their obligations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThreats by senior Israeli and Iranian officials to deliberately attack critical oil and gas infrastructure have transformed into the grim reality of attacking critical energy infrastructure that could affect millions of people in the Middle East and across the globe,\u201d Shea said.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Beirut) \u2013\u00a0Israeli and\u00a0Iranian attacks in mid-March 2026 on vital energy infrastructure were unlawfully indiscriminate and could trigger profound…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":405694,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-405693","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israel","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=405693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405693\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/405694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=405693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=405693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}