Chaos at Doha and Dubai airports: flights are cancelled, airspace is closed

Partial UAE airspace closure after US-Israel strikes on Iran left thousands stranded at Dubai International Airport amid mass cancellations and diversions. Dubai International Airport, the world's busiest gateway, fell eerily silent on Saturday as all flights were suspended indefinitely, leaving thousands of passengers stranded. The closure came in the wake of a sudden wave of Iranian missile attacks across the Gulf states, escalating the conflict sparked by US-Israeli strikes on Iran earlier that day. Meanwhile Emirates, one of the main UAE carriers, issued a statement saying, due to multiple regional airspace closures, Emirates has temporarily suspended operations to and from Dubai. Emirates urges customers to check their flight status on emirates.com for the latest updates before proceeding to the airport. We apologize to customers affected by disruptions for any inconvenience caused, and we are assisting them with rebooking, refunds, or alternative travel arrangements. Travelers faced major disruption at Qatar's Doha airport on Saturday as well as the US-Israeli attack on Iran continued to affect flights across Middle East and beyond. Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar closed their airspace on Saturday. Airspace in southern Syria was also closed. Qatar Airways Group has temporarily cancelled flights to and from Doha because of the airspace closures. Iranian authorities have urged residents of Tehran to leave the capital if possible. There are no bomb shelters for civilians in the city, Farzana Shafi, whose family lives in central Tehran, told Business FM. Some Iranians are trying to leave Tehran, Farzana Shafi, says that she was able to contact them before the phone line was cut off. I had a very short conversation, or rather, they recorded a message for me. They said there was an emergency, so they left their workstations to pick up their child from school because everything was closing. And there was a huge traffic jam, they said they'd been stuck for two hours, all the cars were on the street, and it was impossible to move at all, everyone was panicking," she said. Iranian international journalist Kyle Mwazen says that people are mostly staying in their homes, continuing their daily activities. Ali, a businessman from Tehran, said in a statement that he was sitting in his office with employees when he heard two explosions. Fighter jets streaked across the sky. Employees ran out of the building in panic. Ali asked not to be identified by his full name due to security concerns. Hamed Reza Zand, a resident of the upscale Muradmad neighborhood, described seeing at least 10 fighter jets. Locals ran into the streets, drivers abandoned their cars in traffic jams. Ambulance sirens blared everywhere. Parents rushed to pick up their children from school. Ali Zainlipour reported finding his daughter and her friends hiding under the stairs at the middle school. The principal didn't understand what had happened. Everyone was scared," he said via messaging app. From the roof of her apartment in the northern district of Velenjak, Gulshana Fathi saw a new wave of fighter jets. People are standing on rooftops, pointing to the sky. You can hear women screaming. Neighbors are running to their cars. It's just like in a movie," she said. In the Pasteran district, home to a large Revolutionary Guard Corps compound, residents heard several explosions. They shook their windows. The children are crying and scared, were hiding in the bathroom and don't know what to do. It's scary," wrote Engineer Espandiar. As reports of explosions emerged in other Iranian cities, communication disruptions were reported. A resident of Masa reported that she fled the Pasteran and was unable to contact her relatives. Unlike the Israeli strikes last June, which targeted military and nuclear facilities and high-ranking military officials, the current wave of attacks is broader. According to local residents and media, the strikes also hit political targets, the intelligence ministry, the judiciary, and the closed Paster complex, where the president and supreme leader Ali Khamenei usually reside. The exact casualties are still unknown. The attacks come amid a recent violent crackdown on protests across the country calling for an end to the Islamic Republic's rule. Not all residents expressed anger. Ektaban Aryan, a resident of the western district, reported that some relatives welcomed the strikes. He heard cries of, Long live the Shah," near his home, a reference to the monarch overthrown in 1979. Video has emerged in social media showing Iran's airstrike on the U.S. 5th Fleet base in Bahrain. The video captures the moment an Iranian Shahid kamikaze drone struck the naval base. The attack was followed by strong explosion and large-scale fire. Another video footage captures the massive blaze, with plumes of fire at the site of the attack. Explosions also occurred in Abu Dhabi in the UAE where one person was killed and in Qatar. Iran launched retaliatory airstrikes on U.S. military bases in Middle East following U.S. and Israeli joint strikes across Iran on Saturday morning. The airstrikes on Iran caused explosions in many cities, including the capital Tehran. Meanwhile, two Israeli sources familiar with the operation, told the U.S. media that Israel's strikes on Iran were aimed at high-ranking Iranian officials, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Armed Forces Chief of Staff Syed Abdulrahman Mosavi, and President Massoud Pazeshkian, among others. U.S. President Donald Trump announced today that the U.S. has begun major combat operations, in Iran, pledging to obliterate Iran's nuclear program and its military. The U.S. has begun major combat operations, in Iran, pledging to obliterate Iran's nuclear program and its military.