Woman sheltered in Dubai hotel basement after air strikes
A woman from Antrim has said she is not sure when she will be able to return home from the United Arab Emirates as fighting in the Middle East continues.
Katy McKinney was visiting Dubai with her husband on a business trip when Israel and the US launched an attack against Iran on Saturday.
Iran responded by firing ballistic missiles and drones at US assets and allies across the region, targeting Israel, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
McKinney said she was safe but described the situation as surreal after her hotel was evacuated and she and the other guests were moved to a basement early on Sunday.
“At quarter past two in the middle of the night, there was an emergency message being blared out throughout the hotel,” she told BBC News NI.
“We basically just threw clothes on, grabbed our phones and just headed to the nearest stairs.”
Her hotel is near the Fairmont The Palm hotel which was struck by a large explosion.
“We could actually see the smoke coming from that hotel. It definitely heightened our worry,” McKinney said.
Guests were able to exit the basement and return to their rooms after a few hours and since then McKinney said she had only been able to hear “banging” in the distance.
“What frightens myself and my husband is what I think has happened with Fairmont,” she said.
“The aftermath of a drone or a missile being intercepted. I think that’s what happened. So that is in the back of your mind.”
Anti-war protests held
Speaking at a protest at Belfast City Hall on Monday evening against the attacks in Iran, People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll said children had died after a school in Iran was bombed.
“That is not democracy, human rights and dignity, and we’re here to stand against that quite clearly and loudly,” he added.
Carroll said “you cannot have liberation delivered through the bombs”.
“It’s up to the people of Iran to decide their government and campaign as much as they feel necessary against this government.”
“We’re for self-determination but it cannot happen when people are being bombed from the sky,” he added.
There was also a small gathering of people who want to see a regime change in Iran.
There was also an an anti-war rally at the cenotaph in Londonderry City centre.
Some Iranians in NI ‘want regime change’
Mohammad said he is both hopeful and worried for people in Iran [BBC]
Earlier, Mohammad Reza, who is from Tehran, told BBC News NI he was both “hopeful” and “worried” for the people back in Iran.
A student, he has been living in Northern Ireland for almost three years.
“We think this is it for the regime and hopefully the strikes, this intervention, would free us from the occupation of the Islamic republic,” he said.
“People there are hostages,” he said, adding: “We really need freedom”.
Maryam said people have been “dreaming” of regime change in Iran for years [BBC]
Maryam is studying in Northern Ireland, but most of her family and friends are at home in Iran.
She said she spoke to them before the attack when the internet was still on and “they were all looking at the sky” and “hoping that the bombs come soon”.
“Finally there is something happening in Iran that many of us have been dreaming of for years,” she said.
“It’s not an attack against Iranian people, it’s an attack against Islamic Republic of Iran, which is the enemy of the Iranian people,” she added.
Treety Farahmand, who has lived in Northern Ireland for more than two decades, told BBC News NI at a friendship cafe in Derry that she had family members and friends in Iran.
“Our people, 90 million are hostages in their own country,” she added.
“We are killed in the street without mercy.
“They come to protest, they want freedom, they want to hold each other’s hand and walk in the park.”
Referencing US support for the UK during World War Two, she said this was a time for the UK “to not forget your allies”.
Treety Farahmand, who has lived in Northern Ireland for more than two decades, has family and friends in Iran [BBC]
Closed air space
Meanwhile, the Foreign Office has warned British citizens against all but essential travel to Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE.
People already there have been advised to shelter.
Flights have been diverted or cancelled, with journeys to and from Tel Aviv, Dubai, Doha and other international hubs affected.
Dubai International Airport – the world’s busiest by passenger traffic – was damaged in an “incident” that injured four staff, according to authorities.
Travel disruption
Graeme McQueen, from Dublin Airport Authority, said they should have had 12 flights between Dublin Airport and Middle Eastern airports – Dubai, Doha and Abu Dhabi – but they have all been cancelled.
McQueen said: “The first wave of flights with Emirates and one of the other airlines here have been cancelled for the morning, so it looks like another day of disruption tomorrow [Tuesday}”
He added that there are “a lot of people stranded in different places at the moment” due to connecting flights being cancelled.
“I think what we will probably see is when those flights start getting to the Middle East, whenever that will be, it will probably only take people who are going to those cities of Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha,” he said.
“I can’t see them taking the ones who are getting connecting flights from there.”
What of other NI people in Middle East?
Brian McDaid, from Londonderry, moved to Dubai with his family just a few months ago.
They are still unpacking boxes, settling into their new home around 25 minutes from Dubai’s downtown area.
Speaking to BBC Radio Foyle, the Derry teacher said no-one could be sure “how things are going to escalate”.
“Things are happening around us but I don’t feel in any sort of danger, quite frankly,” he said.
“When there is an impact we hear it – impact as in the missiles come in, there’s an air defence system that intercepts them and then it’s just falling debris,” McDaid said.
Conor Duggan, a teacher from Ballygalget, County Down, who lives in Abu Dhabi, was taking part in a GAA tournament at a stadium near Dubai as events started to unfold.
It was after his team’s first game, when players started to look through their phones while in the changing rooms, that they became aware of the attack.
“It was quite an eerie feeling,” he said.
“Usually in the changing rooms, there’s a bit of craic and banter. You could hear a pin drop, everybody on their phones, just looking.”
He said he was following advice to stay indoors and had been told teaching would be conducted online until Thursday.
“We’re not in like a lockdown, it’s not that kind of situation. There still are cars in the road, people still kind of going about normal working life,” he said.
“It’s a weird feeling like you know you do feel safe because you know these missiles thank god are being stopped in the sky and you’re kind of seeing that happening.”
Conor McKinney, originally from Tamnaherin in County Londonderry, has been studying Arabic in the Jordanian capital of Amman for the past four weeks.
On Saturday night, he said, he and his partner watched a missile, or “the remains of a missile, tracing across the sky”.
He added that Jordanian fighter jets have started to appear above the city.
“We are beginning to see that they’re beginning to up their game.”
Alerts from the Irish Embassy, and the Arabic school where he is studying, keep him informed.
“I’m not panicking or anxious just yet. But I’m more cautious, frustrated as well, you know, this didn’t have to happen,” he said.
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