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Source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/03/07/what-life-is-really-like-under-fire-in-dubai/
What Life Is Like Under Fire in Dubai
(Telegraph-UK) Isabel Oakeshott - It is now almost a week since Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps began hurling drones and missiles at its Gulf neighbors, targeting the United Arab Emirates. On the beach, I see swimmers and sunbathers. People are out jogging and walking the dog. But the flotilla of pleasure boats looping around Dubai's dazzling stretch of coastline has stopped. Dubai is still moving, but it is quiet. Early Sunday morning my two daughters and I were startled from sleep by a piercing emergency alert, warning on our phones to "seek immediate shelter" from incoming missiles. Three floors underground, in the residents' car park, there was no sense of panic: just bewilderment at the sudden turn of events. On Sunday, we woke to distant booms: the sound of a barrage of drones and missiles being intercepted by the UAE's Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system. It is a sound that has continued off and on all week. Unnerving as it is, we now know that the explosions are the sound of the population being protected. To date, the UAE Ministry of Defense has neutralized 92-95% of everything headed our way, including over 1,000 drones and 190 ballistic missiles. Property damage is minimal. Almost nobody has been hurt. Downstairs in the car park, there are now rows of comfy chairs, bottled water, cartons of orange juice and boxes of dates. As we wait for the all-clear, fast-food delivery drivers on mopeds buzz in and out.