IRANIAN MISSILE BARRAGE SHAKES DUBAI, OTHER GULF CITIES AS RESIDENTS FLEE
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Agency report
A barrage of Iranian strikes wreaked havoc across the Gulf on Saturday, shattering the aura of peace so prized by the region’s wealthy rulers.
Missiles streaked across clear desert skies as smoke rose from US bases in Manama and Abu Dhabi, while loud thuds rattled high-rise windows in Dubai.
In Qatar, dozens fled in panic as a falling missile struck a residential neighbourhood, erupting in a fireball on impact. In Abu Dhabi, golfers enjoying a quiet round were stunned as dozens of projectiles flew overhead.
The Gulf monarchies have long relied on stability to attract trade, business, and tourism, carefully staying on the periphery of Middle East conflicts.
Strong US allies, they have also courted Iran, their powerful Shia neighbour, with Saudi Arabia mending ties with Tehran in 2023 after a seven-year rupture. Saturday’s attacks on US military bases, however, caused widespread shock among the Gulf’s expat-heavy populations.
In Manama, residents were hurriedly evacuated from the Juffair district, home to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, which was struck during the attack.
“When we heard the sounds, we cried out of fear,” said 15-year-old school student Jana Hassan, visiting a friend in the area. “We didn’t know what to do… I will never forget the sound of those loud blasts,” she added.
In Dubai, the Middle East’s commercial hub and home to the Burj Khalifa, residents looked up to see missiles streak across the sky. “It was a rumble and then a bang,” one resident told AFP, asking not to be named.
‘Very Scary, Very Loud’
An American living in Doha also heard multiple blasts while driving home. She said she was “furious” about the sudden instability after 20 years in Qatar. Her teenage sons “are asking me if we will have to go back home.”
Qatar had previously been targeted twice last year—by Iran at the Al Udeid US base in June and by Israel at a Hamas meeting in September—events that were rare for the Gulf. The UAE had not seen a direct threat since a deadly Houthi attack in 2022.
“As a Lebanese, I am traumatised,” said a 31-year-old expat mother of two living in Riyadh. “We came to the Gulf because it’s known to be safer than Lebanon. Now I don’t know what to do or how to think, really,” she added.
Another Riyadh resident from Jordan described the chaos: “It was honestly very scary and very loud. I was just walking out with my little boy when we suddenly heard the blast. People around us were looking up at the sky, trying to understand what was happening. It’s not something you expect in Riyadh.”
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