For two days now, residents of Dubai have largely remained indoors as their city is hit by missiles and drones – part of an attack fired by Iran across the Middle East axis in reacton to the latest massive and ongoing attack against it by US and Israel.
Luxury hotels and its main airport – one of the busiest in the world by passenger traffic – were damaged.
The BBC has spoken to people who live in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as well as those on holiday, who describe situations far from the usual flow of daily life.
Resident Becky Williams said she saw about 15 missiles “launched from behind my house yesterday”, referring to missiles fired by UAE authorities to intercept incoming Iranian projectiles. “You can hear the interceptions happening in the air.”
But she added that she and her family were remaining calm and trusted the UAE military to defend its airspace, saying she believed it would “all blow over soon”.
Iran’s attacks in retaliation for the US-Israeli strikes continued into Sunday.
On the Palm Jumeirah, Dubai’s luxury man-made archipelago, the five-star Fairmont The Palm hotel was struck by a large explosion.
Debris from an intercepted drone resulted in a “minor fire” on the outer facade of the five-star Burj Al Arab hotel, authorities have said.
Another Dubai resident told the BBC: “What we’ve lived through over the past 24 hours is a fraction of what others have been living through in areas of conflict so it puts things in perspective.”
Luxury Dubai hotel hit as Iran launches retaliatory strikes across region
Flights cancelled and new travel warnings issued after Iran strikes
What we know so far about the US-Israel attacks and Iran’s retaliation
Meanwhile, Satya Jaganathan’s weekend plans for a hike on Sunday were foiled by the events.
“And here we are, sheltering in place,” she said.
The 35-year-old said her sister’s family and pets had to seek shelter in their apartment because they lived close to the Jebel Ali port, where there was “a lot of debris falling”.
On Saturday, officials said debris from an “aerial interception” caused a fire in a berth at the port, which is the world’s ninth busiest.
“It’s still relatively calm as there are only loud noises every few hours, but it is eerie because this is not the Dubai we are used to,” Jaganathan explained.
Dubai International Airport was also damaged in what authorities have called an “incident”.
