Safe-haven image cracks as Iran drones target US Gulf allies; Dubai hotel, airport hit

DUBAI: The sail-shaped Burj Al Arab hotel, perched on Dubai's Gulf coast, has long embodied the city's opulence and ambition. Now, set ablaze as Iran launched missiles, it has become a symbol of the crisis engulfing the region.

Residents were aghast as hundreds of drones and missiles targeted the UAE, including capital Abu Dhabi, and other US Gulf allies - Oman, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain - long-time refuges from regional conflict, on Saturday and Sunday. Blasts rattled windows of Dubai apartment towers and its bustling international airport was damaged, injuring four people.




Over 200 drones and 137 ballistic missiles targeted the UAE, its defence ministry said. Most of those projectiles were intercepted, but 14 drones fell into Emirati territory and waters. Fragments of missiles and drones that were intercepted rained down across the city, causing further damage and injuries

Foreign workers in Gulf appear to be most affectedIt is really a tough and serious moment,” said Cinzia Bianco, a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations who focuses on the Gulf. “There was nothing that they valued more than that perception of safety...”

Dubai had cultivated close ties with Iran, partly in an effort to maintain its safe-haven status; the Emirates is one of Iran’s largest trading partners. But not a single Gulf country was spared. Even Oman — where officials had mediated talks between Iran and the US — was attacked. A drone hit housing at Duqm, a port on Arabian Sea, injuring one foreign worker, according to state news agency.

Foreign workers, who make up a large proportion of the population in the Gulf countries, appeared to be among the most affected. In Kuwait, a drone struck the airport, injuring nine workers, the country’s state news agency reported. In Abu Dhabi, debris from an intercepted drone fell on the international airport, killing one “Asian national” and injuring seven people, the airport authority said. Debris from a falling drone also struck the facade of Etihad Towers — a complex that contains the Israeli embassy in Abu Dhabi.

At least 16 people were injured in Qatar, the country’s interior ministry said. The Qatari defence ministry said on Sunday that it had intercepted 18 ballistic missiles fired across the country. In Bahrain, govt said it had shot down 45 missiles and 9 drones.