Following a joint U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran targeting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei and the Iranian leadership, retaliatory Iranian strikes on multiple sites across the Middle East have caused damage to at least one luxury hotel in Dubai.
The five-star Fairmont The Palm hotel in Dubai in the prestigious Palm Jumeirah area was engulfed in flames after getting hit by debris from an Iranian missile targeting multiple sites across the country throughout Feb. 28.
Dramatic footage of flames engulfing the entrance to the luxury hotel quickly spread on social media. Tourists could be seen running away from the entrance as an emergency alert from UAE authorities sent to every phone in the country advised anyone in the area to “seek immediate shelter.”
Fairmont Palm Beach luxury hotel confirms “incident took place”
While the strike was intercepted by the UAE Air Defense system and the fire was eventually put out, Dubai Media Office was the first to report that four people were injured in the fire as explosions continue to rock the capital cities of Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Jordan.
Fairmont Palm Beach leadership confirmed that “an incident took place” and that it was “closely monitoring developments and taking all necessary precautionary measures in coordination with the relevant authorities.”
Related: Which flights are canceled over U.S. strike on Iran
“We are aware that an incident took place in the vicinity of Fairmont The Palm amid the broader regional situation, with debris reported in a nearby car park,” CEO of Raffles & Fairmont Hotels and Resorts Omer Acar wrote in a statement that pops up to anyone who visits the Fairmont The Palm site. “Fairmont The Palm remains open and fully operational during this time while the safety and wellbeing of our guests, visitors, and team members remain our highest priority.”
Tourists present on the scene also described harrowing scene of running amid a plume of flames and smoke.
Accounts from the scene: “That is when that happened at the Fairmont Hotel”
“We knew stuff was going on, and then all we’re seeing was that the missiles being intercepted overhead for four or five hours, and nobody was really paying much attention,” British influencer Will Bail described to GBN News. “As we were leaving, that’s when that happened at the Fairmont Hotel.”
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The biggest hub in the Middle East and the busiest airport in the world for international traffic, Dubai International Airport (DUB) has been closed since the early hours of Feb. 28 amid a wider airspace closure over wide swaths of Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Israel.
Airlines which fly out of the region such as Emirates and Qatar Airways have canceled all service throughout the weekend amid widespread uncertainty and ongoing strikes. U.S. airlines like United, Delta and American have all diverted or rerouted flights already on the way to Dubai, Doha and Tel Aviv in the early hours of Saturday morning back to the U.S.
Approximately 900 flights across airlines based around the world have been canceled as tens of thousands of travelers flying out of or into the Middle East remain stranded at airports in the Middle East or across the world.
