UAE responding to incoming missile and drone threats from Iran, MoD confirmspublished at 06:04 GMT
06:04 GMT
Azadeh Moshiri
South Asia Correspondent
At about 09:00 local time here in the United Arab Emirates (05:00 GMT), the Ministry of Defence said its air defences were “currently responding to incoming missile and drone threats from Iran”. There has been no further update about the threats since.
They’ve said sounds heard in the UAE are the result of those air defence systems intercepting these threats.
This comes after a fire broke out “in the vicinity” of the Dubai International Airport, after “a drone-related incident” affected a fuel tank, forcing airlines to suspend flights, according to authorities.
Dubai’s national carrier, Emirates, has announced it would resume limited services from the airport after 10:00 local time (06:00 GMT) and advised that some flights had been cancelled.
We just spoke to one passenger who was on a connecting flight here in Dubai. He says he and others are still stranded at the airport, and that he was unaware of the fire until we spoke to him. “I’ve still got no idea what it was about,” he told us.
He said pilot had announced a “security incident” and that “the airspace had been closed”, after about 40 minutes of waiting on the plane. He agreed with the decision to keep passengers in the dark about the details.
“It would have caused panic throughout the airport,” he told us.
Dubai International Airport is a major transport hub and the world’s busiest for international passengers.
Last year, it handled nearly 90 million travellers.
Image source, Reuters