The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has announced the diversion of some flights from Dubai International Airport, one of the world’s busiest airports, as Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia also reported intercepting drones and missiles.
The Dubai Media Office said on Monday that civil defense teams had “successfully contained a fire that broke out at one of the fuel tanks around the airport”, adding that no injuries had been reported so far.
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Some flights have been diverted to Al Maktoum International Airport, the office said in X.
Meanwhile, the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority said it was temporarily suspending flights at the airport “as a precautionary measure to ensure the safety of all passengers and crew”. It did not say when it expected flights to resume.
According to the city’s media office, authorities in the UAE capital, Abu Dhabi, are responding to an “incident involving a missile hitting a civilian vehicle in the Al Bahayan area.” The incident “resulted in a casualty of Palestinian nationalism,” it said in a post on X.
The incident comes days after the city’s media office said four people were injured when two drones crashed near the airport on Wednesday.
The UAE’s Ministry of Defense reported six deaths since the fighting began on February 28, including four civilians and two military personnel killed in a helicopter crash due to a technical fault.
Iran justifies the attack
After Israel and the US launched a joint airstrike on Tehran on February 28, Iran has sought to justify attacks on Gulf states by arguing that the presence of US military bases on their soil makes those states legitimate targets.
However, civil infrastructure including landmarks, airports, ports and oil facilities across the Gulf has also been hit.
The UAE, which normalized relations with Israel in 2020, has borne the brunt of the attacks.
Iran has fired more than 1,800 missiles and drones at the UAE, more than any other country targeted by Tehran in the conflict, even as air defenses intercepted most of the missiles, raising travel plans in the financial hub.
All Gulf Arab states have been affected, reporting more than 2,000 missile and drone strikes since the war began and condemning Iran.
In a phone call on Monday, UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman condemned the “sinful Iranian attack” on Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and reaffirmed their intention to defend their territories.
The GCC along with the United Kingdom and Jordan issued a joint statement condemning Iran’s aggression and calling for de-escalation.
The Saudi Ministry of Defense announced on Monday that it had intercepted three waves of drones in the east of the country. It said 12 drones were destroyed in the latest wave, while six had been shot down before that. Five more were detained earlier.
The report comes after the ministry reported that 37 drones were intercepted earlier in the morning.
The attacks were reported in Qatar on Sunday night, with its defense ministry saying all drones in its airspace had been intercepted.
Kuwait’s international airport was also hit, damaging radar equipment, but Iran denied responsibility for that attack.
Meanwhile, more attacks were reported in Iran’s capital, Tehran, after Israel announced it had launched a new wave of attacks.
Al Jazeera’s Mohamed Wall said the strikes were “some of the strongest we’ve seen so far”.
“Iranians are watching and very concerned, three million people have already been displaced from their homes due to intense bombardment,” he said.
About 1,500 civilians have already been reported killed in Iran.
The Iranian Red Crescent Society said recent airstrikes in Tehran damaged one of its clinics and a relief center. Footage posted online by the group showed broken glass and damaged equipment strewn on the ground.
A number of hospitals and other health facilities have been damaged by strikes across Iran since the US-Israeli attacks began.
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