Anyone else in Dubai on holiday? AIBU to be panicking with all the flights cancelled?

[tiantian1005]

Not sure when we can go home..anyone has managed to for example drive to nearby countries and fly from there?

Thank you. I'm dual British and Cypriot, so I've been following it with that in the back of my mind.

Shahed' style/sized drones can and have been launched off the back of a small truck..so even if you can trace a drone back to it's point of origin (and remember they can fly indirect routes) the launcher e.g. pick up truck, can be long gone..

As both the Ukrainians and Russians have shown they can be built in small facilities...you don't need giant factories.

My crystal ball is no better or worse than yours but IMO and that is all it is, the evidence is (e.g. out of Ukraine) that Shahed style drones can be a tougher nut to crack than some of your high tech.missiles.

It's one down hopefully from the gruesome foursome of Khameini, Putin, Xi & Kim Jong-Un. Three to go...

Friends who are in Dubai - prominent building, so potentially a target - have gone into the underground parking. No huge panic but it is the sensible thing to do in a high building with floor to ceiling windows.

I have done this before (not in Dubai) - make it comfortable, take duvets, pillows, books and games. Snacks and drinks. Consider local workers and share with them - it is Ramadan so they may be fasting, so don’t push in daylight. Take a grab bag with documents, cash, meds, water and snacks, in case you have to evacuate. Know the exit points. Take chargers and car charger in case you leave by vehicle. To save batteries take it in turns to monitor. Register with embassies so you will be contacted. Hopefully nobody will be stupid and run the engine in the garage.

If you are there with kids Kris Fade (Dubai Virgin Radio DJ - Australian/Lebanese living in Dubai) is posting some good advice on insta stories. Not an advert at all, not a fan or anything. But some nice advice on keeping kids calm, staying calm for them and sensible prep. You can also see how cautious he is about speaking out on the attacks/sharing which will reflect restrictive laws in the country.

@notimagain thanks for your incredibly informative posts (as always ) and I may say always written in a nice way.
Unlike some of the sneeringly superior tones of some posters who ramp up the heat on emotive threads such as this.

There is no confirmation of anything related to the school outside of Islamic State Television. Every single western news report on it so far refers back to reports from the same state television news that is a propaganda arm of the Islamic Republic and the IRGC, as their primary and only source. I'm not saying it didn't happen, but our only source right now, are known liars with very good reason to lie.

So in the same way that I didn't take for granted that the Ayatollah was dead at 3pm yesterday when Israeli national news was reporting it, instead waited until last night when it was reported as likely from numerous source to believe it was probable, and until this morning when I saw that the Islamic State was also reporting it, to believe it 100% confirmed. I wouldn't believe for sure, that any children were definitely killed in the school, never mind any claims from any side about who was responsible. That doesn't mean it didn't happen, just that we have no information yet that allows us to know anything.

'The difference now seems to be that Israel is no longer adverse to targeting such places where civilian shields are being used.'

• re this, surely Israel was already doing this in the Gaza war? Which I agree they had to do.....

As to it being at odds with Western thinking- not necessarily. Huge numbers of civilians were killed in German cities during the carpet bombing, as were during Hiroshima. Yes, that wasn't a case of human shields as such, but the point is that terrible civilian loss was accepted ad the terrible price that would (hopefully) save more lives long term. The invasion of Iraq also cost huge civilian casualties.

Thank F Labour are currently in charge. Both Reform and Green making further incendiary comments about condemnation or exact support when obviously Starmer is doing loads behind the scenes and the main priority is nuclear de-escalation.
Let this be a lesson in world safety for all the fools voting either Reform or Green.

My friend’s DH works in Dubai for a respected news outlet. Says all flights in and out cancelled til March 10th.

this could go on for weeks couldn’t it? I have friends in dubai and they think they might be able to come home in next few days. How likely is that?

Dubai have made some improvements but their government are slippery characters. That's aside from Sheikh Makhtoum's vile treatment of his daughter, the alleged sexual assaults committed by a male royal on UK soil,

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio/review/2024/04/02/the-runaway-princesses-painstaking-investigation-puts-spotlight-on-treatment-of-women-by-ruler-of-dubai/

the lack of humane treatment of workers (aside from slavery).

Oh, and the backing of the genocidal RSF in the Sudan Civil War..

People shouldn't go halo and horn though. Dubai being bad doesn't make the US bad to attack Iran necessarily, ad some posters seem to be saying.

Tourism supports locals in China, Russia etc as well, that doesn't necessarily means it right to go there.
Having certain red lines isn't 'letting politics dictate your every move'. In your example above, much of Caribbean does at least have a functioning government by vote, if often flawed, and Switzerland is stable and democratic as of now. I imagine many more would draw the line at China as that's not a democracy.

Defence secretary says UK forces involved in 'defensive measures' in Middle East
John Healey told Trevor Phillips the RAF was involved in "defensive measures" in the Middle East and "taking down the drones that are menacing our bases".

Lots of bias and mean anti Dubai prejudiced people out there.

AI drone war fare is at a critical point. Trump probably thinks he is in a race against time to take out all dictatorships and the tech bro/Mossad etc all on the same page.

We should stay calm and carry on and trust in the advice of authorities rather than panic. There is obviously loads going on and de-escalation is the most important thing.

Iran cannot win this and the Russian bot farms will be trying their best to create mass panic. It’s all so obvious.

i don’t understand why people are ‘fucking terrified’? Am I being naive?

Timescale is anyone's guess TBH.

At one extreme if Iran suddenly surrendered (for want of a better term) tonight, and hostilities stopped straight away the likes of Emirates and Qatar would be up and running to some extent within hopefully a few hours or a day, max - from what I"ve heard and seen they've got aircraft and crew displaced all around the world.

Of course sadly that's unlikely.

I think it's because there's a nutter in the White house . . .

@Carla786 was it his daughter that a TV program was made about ?

If so I tried to find it last year ISH and couldn't.

Another day, another war. I'm struggling desensitisation myself. Even if France was at war with Spain I'd not be surprised right now.

The world is getting smaller and people are suffering hugely. I'm aware but not terrified. If I was terrified by war I'd be unable to function in the last five years or indeed my entire life. Humans got to fight.

Because if you live in Dubai or Abu Dhabi you can hear lots of explosions, maybe your house is shaking because you are so close to them. You are getting emergency alerts on your phone telling you to get to the safest place in your house because missiles are headed in your direction. Your friends are all in the same position, all this is happening in civilian areas all over the cities. You see pictures on the news of a hotel burning down (so not military targets), can hear fighter jets overhead. There’s not much information coming out but also misinformation … You’re trying to sleep at night, you’ve gathered your family all in the same room but the emergency alarm goes off and you have to wake up your kids and get them somewhere safe

We will all be fine and I trust the UAE military but come on! It’s a very scary time right now to be here

OP sit tight, it will be fine but I can understand it’s nerve shredding. You’ll be home soon.

Because a lot of Westerners who have so far been protected from the Middle East hostilities are now seeing the scary realities at close hand. Dubai a Western hotspot brings it closer to home. It is a big travel hub, huge expat population and popular holiday destination. Flights have suddenly been cancelled, with no knowledge of when they'll resume. Many people living in UAE or who have relatives/friends who do (a large % of the UK population) are rightly worried.

I’m hoping the actual personal risk is low?

Because they are in countries and cities that are experiencing strikes and they can't leave as the airports are being targeted. Or they have loved ones in those areas.

I'm not terrified because I'm in Ireland and no one I love is in the ME. I have an Iranian friend who's terrified as there is no way to contact her family. See how different circumstances justify different emotional responses?