There is no panic. People are walking, drinking coffee, children are playing — a regular day.
Iran has adopted Russia's tactics of mass drone strikes, honed in the war in Ukraine, applying them against the countries of the Persian Gulf, The Wall Street Journal reports. In particular, Tehran has launched hundreds of drones at the states in the region to overload their air defense systems, reach local American bases, and damage critical infrastructure.
This is a strategy of attrition. Small, relatively cheap, and hard-to-intercept strike drones do not have the same devastating effect as missiles; however, they successfully hit civilian airports, ports, and other key facilities, undermining the sense of security among the population and investors, WSJ notes.
Yevgeny Gurevich, co-founder of Omnistrat Group and financial consultant, told RTVI.US that in Dubai, the air defense systems operate "clearly and confidently, like Swiss watches."
"I live in the residential area of Business Bay, and at night we heard a couple of bangs, but it quickly became clear that it was the air defense working — clearly, confidently, like Swiss watches. Honestly, some neighbors didn’t even wake up," Gurevich said.
Gurevich notes that the attacks have not paralyzed the city's operations, the authorities are managing their tasks without complaints, and everything is "returning to normal."
"There is no panic. People are walking, drinking coffee, children are playing — a regular day in Dubai, just with slightly more active chats on WhatsApp. Airports are resuming operations in the morning, so everything is returning to normal. If I were to give a rating — Dubai's air defense gets a solid 10 out of 10. The management of the situation — also 10 out of 10. The calmness of the residents — well, let's say, 9 out of 10, because one point was lost to adrenaline in the first five minutes," Gurevich shared his observations.
Another resident of Dubai, who wished to remain anonymous, said that the attacks came as a surprise, and the situation remains "very unstable." Despite this, in her opinion, Dubai is relatively safe.
"No one expected that missiles would fly over us in the UAE and that air defense systems would activate near our homes. For the first two days, we actively heard and saw explosions in the sky, debris was falling down on residential areas. They say there are few casualties. It would probably be worse if no one was prepared, but so far we feel relatively safe here. The sky was closed, but closer to the evening, they began to selectively open it," the interviewee noted.
A student from Russia, who arrived in Dubai a few weeks ago, decided not to stay in the city and went to the desert. Despite the fact that the country has one of the most advanced air defense systems in the world, it is safer in remote areas than in coastal megacities, the interviewee noted.
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