Dubai's Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) has issued an official directive to all hotels: No guests to be evicted. If you are on your check-out date but are unable to depart due to cancelled flights and closed airspace, the hotel must allow you to extend your stay under the same terms as your original reservation. If you are unable to cover the costs of the extension, and the hotel notifies DET immediately, the state intervenes - this is what it wrote today on the social network "Facebook" Nikolay Mladenov, the High Representative of the Gaza Peace Council, told BTA.
Mladenov explains that this is in line with the national decision of the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA): the UAE is covering all costs for accommodation, food, drinks and even assistance with rebooking flights for all affected and stranded passengers - tourists and transit passengers. Over 20,000 people have already been assisted and placed in full-service hotels. In Abu Dhabi, DCT is directly covering the bills for additional nights, and in Dubai through DET.
If you have relatives or friends stranded in Dubai or Abu Dhabi, tell them to contact their hotel or the airline - Etihad and Emirates directly. Official channels are the key, do not trust and do not spread rumors, the high representative wrote.
Loud explosions were heard today in Dubai, Doha and Manama, Agence France-Presse reported earlier today, BTA reports.
AFP notes that Iran is launching a third day of strikes against its neighbors in the Gulf region, in response to the US-Israeli attack on the Islamic Republic. AFP journalists report hearing several loud detonations in the capitals of Qatar and Bahrain, as well as in the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates.
Kuwait said its air defenses had intercepted an unspecified number of drones that had attacked Kuwaiti territory today, Agence France-Presse reported, citing the Kuwaiti news agency KUNA. No injuries were reported.
Iran launched strikes against Gulf states after Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in an Israeli-American attack that began on Saturday. Kuwait has reported one death and 32 injuries on its territory since the Iranian retaliatory strikes began.