Iran attacked and set fire to the world-famous Fairmont Hotel in Dubai on Saturday, as the war started by the United States and Israel against Iran quickly spread to other parts of the Middle East.
Residents watched in shock as an Iranian missile hit a five-star hotel in Dubai’s upscale Palm Jumeirah area. Videos on social media showed a fire breaking out near the entrance of the hotel, injuring four people.
Dubai authorities later announced that debris from the intercepted drone caused fires at the city’s famous Burj Al Arab hotel and at Dubai International Airport. Abu Dhabi Airports announced in a post on X that one person was killed and seven others injured in the accident at Zayed International Airport in the UAE capital. The post was later deleted.
“Civil defense teams responded immediately and brought the incident under control. No injuries were reported,” Dubai’s media office wrote on its X account.
The media also said that parts of Dubai International Airport “suffered minor damage in the incident” but did not provide further details.
One Dubai resident said “everyone is very scared” as the situation continues to worsen.
“There is footage of missile intercepts throughout the city,” they said. “I’m packing my suitcase just in case… It’s not like I can leave because the airspace is closed. This is something we’ve all been afraid would happen and it’s happening now.”
Similar scenes unfolded elsewhere in the Gulf, previously considered an oasis of stability in the Middle East.
Within hours after the United States and Israel fired their first bombs, Iran hit back with widespread attacks targeting more than half a dozen countries, drawing in regions hitherto untouched by the escalation of the crisis.
In Bahrain, an Iranian drone crashed into a skyscraper in what appeared to be a targeted attack, exploding and setting the building ablaze. Earlier, the country’s National Security Agency was also attacked by Iranian missiles.
Videos on social media also showed a missile hitting a huge US naval base in Bahrain. In Kuwait, a drone crashed into the country’s main airport, injuring several employees and damaging facilities.
As Iran bombed the Gulf and Israel in response to U.S. and Israeli attacks, its proxies also entered the fray. At least two members of the Iraqi militant group Kataib Hezbollah were killed when an Iranian-backed Popular Mobilization Forces base in Iraq was bombed by either the United States or Israel.
Iranian-backed groups have responded with aid, and both Kataib Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthis have threatened to join attacks on U.S. military bases across the region.
Just hours after the start of what the US government called “Operation Grand Fury,” the fighting had already expanded far beyond the geographic scope of the previous Iran war in June 2025, which was largely limited to Israel and Iran.
For people in the Middle East, the escalation of war caused anxiety and concern.
In Lebanon, lines of 10 cars formed at gas stations across the country within an hour of the strike. As people at Beirut airport watched as commercial flights were canceled and grocery stores more cautiously stocked up on essentials, memories of the 2024 war with Israel were still fresh in their minds.
All eyes were on Hezbollah, an organization backed by Iran. Hezbollah has previously argued that the killing of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei was a red line that should not be crossed.
The group’s statement on Saturday afternoon did not say whether it supported Iran, its main backer, but instead condemned actions by the United States and Israel as violations of the United Nations Charter.
Many Lebanese feared Hezbollah would join the ongoing conflict and feared provoking an Israeli response. Israel has indicated through diplomatic channels that it would launch widespread attacks against Lebanon if Hezbollah were involved.
The explosion shocked other parts of the Middle East as Israel intercepted an incoming Iranian ballistic missile over another country. In Jordan, a fire broke out in the northern city of Irbid after missile fragments fell from the sky and ignited.
The attack drew condemnation from Arab countries across the region, calling it a violation of Iranian sovereignty. Qatar called Iran’s attack on its territory a “direct attack on national security” and warned that it and other Gulf states had the right to respond.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in an interview with NBC that he told Gulf states, “We have no intention of attacking Gulf states, but in fact we are attacking US military bases as an act of self-defense.”
Attacks on Gulf states are a red line Iran has not crossed in past conflicts, and rare attacks on oil infrastructure remain unclaimed.
Gulf states had previously sought to block the Trump administration’s attack on Iran, fearing a blowback or unintended consequences that would destabilize the country of 93 million people.
Imposing material costs on the Gulf states, stable kingdoms unaccustomed to wars in their backyards, could put pressure on Trump to halt the bombing campaign on the monarchies.
Some wealthy families, including Qatar’s al-Thani family and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, have close ties to President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who has great influence in shaping Trump’s Middle East policy.
Conversely, some analysts warned that targeting Gulf states could backfire and alienate voices that had previously lobbied the United States to reconsider its military operations against Iran.