India, July 18 -- Iranian strikes on Friday hit a power and water desalination plant in Kuwait, damaging one of the key sources of drinking water in the small desert nation.

It's the latest attack on essential infrastructure across the West Asia that have exposed extreme vulnerabilities in one of the world's driest regions, which relies almost exclusively on technology to produce freshwater that sustains cities, hotels, industry and some agriculture.

Kuwaiti authorities said the strikes damaged a large number of power generation units and sparked a fire. They added that a fire has been contained and that they activated emergency contingency plans.

In Kuwait, about 90 per cent of drinking water comes from desalination, along with roughl...