Smoke rises during a reported Iranian missile attack near a U.S. base, following strikes by the United States and Israel against Iran, in Manama, Bahrain, in this screen grab obtained from a video released on Feb. 28, 2026. (Credit: Reuters)
A usual calm shattered in an instant. On Saturday, a series of Iranian missile strikes sent shockwaves across the Gulf, exposing cracks in the carefully maintained image of stability long projected by these oil monarchies, in retaliation for U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran. Against the clear desert sky, missiles streaked across the horizon. On the ground, columns of smoke rose from American bases in Manama, Bahrain, and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
“When we heard the noises, we screamed in fear,” said Jana Hassane, a 15-year-old student visiting a friend in Juffair, the district hosting the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet, which was hit. “I will never forget the sound of those loud explosions,” she added, describing the hurried evacuation of residents by authorities.
The blasts reverberated across the region. Windows of Dubai’s skyscrapers shook, sending waves of confusion through the city’s population. “There was a rumble, then an explosion,” recounted a resident of the emirate’s financial hub, home to the Burj Khalifa, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Farther south, in Abu Dhabi, the scene was surreal. Golfers on a course looked up to see dozens of projectiles streaking across the sky. For years, Gulf monarchies had sought to shield themselves from Middle Eastern tensions, banking on stability to attract business, commerce, and tourism.
Yet these U.S. allies have recently drawn closer to their powerful Shiite neighbor, Iran. Saudi Arabia, long a rival of Tehran, reestablished diplomatic ties with the Islamic Republic in 2023 after a seven-year break. Despite repeated Iranian warnings that U.S. bases in the region would be targeted in the event of an attack, Saturday’s strikes shook the Gulf — a region home to millions of expatriates.
Between trauma and anger
In Qatar, panic erupted in a residential neighborhood when a missile struck the street, igniting a fireball. Dozens fled in terror. An American resident of Doha, speaking anonymously, described hearing multiple detonations while driving home and watching windows tremble. “I’m furious at this instability after twenty years here,” she said. Her teenage sons, she added, “ask me if we’ll have to go back home.”
Qatar had already been targeted twice in 2025: in June, when Iran struck the al-Udeid military base, the region’s largest U.S. installation, and in September, when Israel hit a Hamas meeting in Doha. Until now, such attacks had been rare in the Gulf. The Emirates had not faced a strike since 2022, when Yemen’s Houthi rebels launched a deadly attack, though Houthi operations against Saudi Arabia have largely subsided in recent years.
“I’m traumatized,” whispered a 31-year-old Lebanese mother of two living in Riyadh. “We came to the Gulf because it’s safer than Lebanon. Now I don’t even know what to think or do.”
Another Riyadh resident, originally from Jordan, recounted a “very frightening” moment: “I was walking with my young son when we suddenly heard the explosion. People around us looked to the sky, trying to understand what was happening. You don’t expect things like this in Riyadh.”
