With cherished landmarks hit, Iran attacks rattle Dubai

The sumptuous, sail-shaped Burj Al Arab hotel, perched on Dubai's Gulf coast, has long embodied the city's opulence and ambition. Now, set ablaze as Iran launched missiles, it has become a symbol of the crisis engulfing the region.

Residents were aghast as hundreds of drones and missiles targeted the United Arab Emirates and America's other Gulf allies, long-time refuges from regional conflict, on Saturday and Sunday.

In Dubai, which has transformed from a hardscrabble outpost to a cosmopolitan, skyscraper-packed tax haven in a matter of decades, the targets were packed with symbolism.

Along with the Burj Al Arab, a much-loved landmark since 1999, explosions hit a five-star hotel on the upmarket Palm Jumeirah, Dubai's swaggering playground for the rich.

Dubai airport, the world's busiest for international traffic, and Jebel Ali port were also struck. The two facilities account for about 60 percent of Dubai's revenues, official estimates show.

Lebanese expat Dalia, 33, was on the popular Kite Beach near the Burj Al Arab on Saturday when interceptors began blowing up missiles and drones in the sky.

Later, an intercepted drone set off a fire at the base of the building's facade.

"It felt very unsettling for something like that to happen to Burj Al Arab... to see a cloud of smoke over Kite Beach," said Dalia, who didn't want to give her full name.

"I didn't feel unsafe or that Dubai could lose its landmarks, but it did make me wonder what if things really get out of hand?"

'My safe haven'  

A doctor in his sixties told AFP he moved to Dubai to escape an economic crisis in his native Lebanon. On Sunday, he skipped his weekly trip to Kite Beach because "it would have been too depressing to see any signs of damage on the Burj".

"Dubai was my safe haven, but the war followed us from Lebanon to here," said the doctor, who did not want to give his name.

"I still consider Dubai to be a safe place, but it's clear that this escalation has spared no one."

Many regard the Burj Al Arab, Dubai's first world-renowned building, more fondly than the towering Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest skyscraper, which opened downtown in 2010.

Sometimes touted as a seven-star hotel, viral publicity stunts include a 2005 knock-up between tennis legends Roger Federer and Andre Agassi on its helipad 210 metres (689 feet) off the ground.

The Palm Jumeirah, a palm-shaped, manmade island of chic villas and expensive hotels, is at least as well known, partly for celebrity residents that have included Shah Rukh Khan and the Beckhams.

Renowned for its long, boozy brunches -- a staple of Dubai's social scene -- Saturday's frivolities were cut short with a huge bang followed by a blaze in the grounds of the Fairmont hotel.

Going out with a bang  

"One minute we're out having cocktails, but the next minute you're being bombarded," said one British expat living nearby, who hurried into her building's basement for safety with about 150 others when the attack happened.

"You make the choice: do you go to the basement or do you go to sleep and hope?" said her husband, who also requested anonymity.

On Sunday, with smoke still rising in the distance from Jebel Ali port, security guards in high-viz vests shooed away passers-by snatching a look at the hotel's scarred facade and charred bushes.

A taxi with its back window blown out was parked in front, and a window was shattered in a building opposite, about 60 metres (200 feet) across the road.

"It's never been lost on us that we're in a Middle East country, and this is proof that you never know what will happen," said the British woman.

By hitting Dubai's economic jewels and symbols of its success, Iran attacked a project that has sparked imitators including Saudi Arabia, which is loosening up and trying to attract tourists, talent and capital.

But despite the sudden onslaught, residents are not packing their bags just yet.

"We're still living in pretty much the safest place in the world. This is disturbing but not to the point that we're leaving Dubai," the British husband said.