Dubai–Abu Dhabi News highlights: UAE says air defences responding to missile, drone attacks from Iran

Dubai Abu Dhabi news LIVE: The key port of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates resumed oil loadings after it was halted following a drone strike, the latest in a series of hits threatening the country’s only export route outside the Strait of Hormuz.

A drone attack caused a fire in the petrochemicals complex in the area, the Fujairah Media office said Monday.

Oil loadings, which had been briefly halted as a precautionary measure, have restarted, a person people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified because they aren’t authorized to speak to the media.

Fujairah is a major hub for both crude and fuels, and has taken on increased significance for both the UAE and global markets because of its position outside the Strait of Hormuz, which has been all-but-closed because of the war.

The latest attack follows a warning from Iran’s military on Saturday that Fujairah and other UAE ports of Jebel Ali and Port Khalifa had become legitimate targets due to the presence of US military forces in civilian facilities, the semi-official Fars news agency had reported. (Bloomberg)

Dubai Abu Dhabi news LIVE: A drone strike hit an oil industry zone near UAE's Fujairah port on Monday, triggering a fire in the area just days after a similar attack took place in the Gulf nation's key important energy hubs.

Fujairah remains one of the UAE’s most critical energy hubs, primarily because it is located outside the Strait of Hormuz. The port serves as a major crude export terminal, handling around 1 million barrels per day of the UAE’s Murban crude oil which equivalent to nearly 1% of global oil demand.

Dubai Abu Dhabi news LIVE: Nineteen Indians were among the 35 people arrested by authorities in the United Arab Emirates for posting video clips on social media that allegedly contained “misleading and fabricated content” during heightened tensions in West Asia caused by the ongoing war between the United States, backed by Israel, and Iran.

Notably, authorities had issued repeated warnings to residents earlier, asking them not to film attack sites, share footage of interceptions, or circulate unverified information online.

Dubai Abu Dhabi news LIVE: Saudi Arabia is giving long-term oil customers the option of receiving their allocations for April via the Red Sea port of Yanbu as it prepares for lengthy disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz.

Buyers who choose Yanbu will only get a portion of their monthly supply due to constraints on how much crude the pipeline to the port can carry, said traders who have been informed by state-run Saudi Aramco. The other option is to receive oil from the Persian Gulf, but at the risk of not getting any if the strait remains closed, said the traders, who asked not to be named as they’re not allowed to speak to media.

Aramco, the world’s biggest oil exporter, shipped 7.2 million barrels a day of crude last month, before Iran effectively blocked Hormuz, most of which was exported from its Gulf terminals of Ras Tanura and Juaymah. The Saudis have a 5 million barrel-a-day pipeline that runs across the country to the Red Sea, although export capacity at Yanbu may be smaller than that. (Bloomberg)

US-Iran War: China’s biggest oil refiner Sinopec has trimmed run rates as the widening Middle East war and difficulties shipping through the Strait of Hormuz choke supplies of crude.

The state-owned company is reducing total processing by about 10% from its original plan for this month, according to people familiar with the situation.

The cuts exclude production losses from ongoing planned maintenance, they said, asking not to be named as the matter is private.

Sinopec’s refineries process about 5.2 million barrels of crude a day, around a third of total Chinese output.

A 10% reduction means the company’s throughput in March, usually a peak refining season as demand rises ahead of spring and summer, could fall by more than 500,000 barrels a day. The refiner imports more than half of its crude from the Middle East. (Bloomberg)

Dubai Abu Dhabi news LIVE: Dubai airport has urged travellers not to proceed to DXB unless they have been directly contacted by their airline with a confirmed departure time.

Dubai Abu Dhabi news LIVE: A fire broke out in Umm Al Quwain building after drone strike.

Dubai Abu Dhabi news LIVE: Dubai’s main airport resumed operations Monday after a drone triggered a fuel-tank fire, suspending flights for several hours and further disrupting the aviation hub’s efforts to maintain normality during the prolonged Iran war.

Emirates restarted a limited flight schedule after 10 a.m. local time. The state-owned carrier canceled some flights after the airport suspended operations for more than seven hours. That’s the longest halt since Dubai restarted travel through what it calls “safe air corridors” three days into the war.

Several aircraft departed Dubai International Airport for destinations including Shanghai, Cairo and Hanoi, according to data from Flightradar24. Several Emirates planes that were diverted earlier are still at airports across the United Arab Emirates and different continents. (Bloomberg)

Dubai Abu Dhabi news LIVE: Oman Air has suspended services to nine key destinations due to ongoing airspace restrictions across parts of the region.

Dubai Abu Dhabi news LIVE: The key port of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates was hit by a drone, the latest in a series of strikes threatening the country’s only export route outside the Strait of Hormuz.

A drone attack caused a fire in the petrochemicals complex in the area, the Fujairah Media office said Monday. Oil loadings have been halted as a precautionary measure as the damage was being assessed, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified because they aren’t authorized to speak to the media. Loading at the port had restarted over the weekend after a previous drone strike caused a fire on Saturday. (Bloomberg)

Dubai Abu Dhabi news LIVE: Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Mohammed bin Salman held a phone call to review the latest regional developments as military actions intensify. Both leaders discussed the serious risks such escalation poses to regional and global security and stability, Gulf News reported.

US-Iran War: Israel's military said on Monday it had launched a broad wave of strikes on the Iranian cities of Tehran, Shiraz and Tabriz, more than two weeks into the US-Israeli war against the Islamic republic.

"The IDF has just begun a wide-scale wave of strikes targeting infrastructure of the Iranian terror regime in Tehran, Shiraz, and Tabriz", the military said in a statement. (AFP)

Dubai Abu Dhabi news LIVE: Oil loading operations have been suspended at the United Arab Emirates port of Fujairah, two sources told Reuters on Monday, after a drone attack sparked a fire in the emirate's petroleum industrial zone.

Fujairah, located on the Gulf of Oman just outside the Strait of Hormuz, is typically a critical exit point for about 1 million barrels per day of the UAE's Murban crude - a volume equivalent to roughly 1% of global demand.

Civil defense teams are currently working to control the blaze, the Fujairah government media office said in a statement, adding that no casualties have been reported. (Reuters)

Dubai Abu Dhabi news LIVE: Dubai stocks slid into bear-market territory as the crisis in the Middle East caused chaos in the energy, shipping, real estate and tourism industries.

The Dubai Financial Market General Index fell as much as 3.2% on Monday, down 21% from its February high. If the gauge closes at this level, stocks will be in a bear market, which is defined as a decline of 20% or more from a peak.

The recent selloff was sparked by the US-Israel strikes against Iran, which has responded with attacks on Gulf cities. Travel in the region has been disrupted and threats to shipping have escalated, driving oil prices higher. As the war enters its third week, the war threatens Dubai’s carefully cultivated image of a safe haven in an often volatile region. (Bloomberg)

Dubai Abu Dhabi news LIVE: Traffic on several roads in Dubai resumed on Monday after drone incident near DXB. However, Airport road still remains affected, as per a report by Gulf News.

Dubai Abu Dhabi news LIVE: Dubai's international airport was gradually resuming flights on Monday after a fuel tank fire caused by a drone attack forced a temporary suspension, spotlighting the challenge for regional carriers grappling with the Middle East crisis.

The US-Israel war against Iran, now in its third week, has thrown global aviation into turmoil, with flights cancelled, rescheduled and rerouted, as most Middle East airspace stays shut over fears of missile and drone attacks.

With the Gulf a global crossroads for commercial aviation, the US-Israeli war with Iran has disrupted travel, sent fuel charges and ticket prices surging, hit flows of goods such as critical medicines and thrown holiday plans into disarray. (Reuters)

Dubai Abu Dhabi news LIVE: Iran denied US President Donald Trump’s assertion that it wants ceasefire talks, launching fresh attacks across the Persian Gulf and forcing a suspension of flights at Dubai’s main airport.

The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia reported drone and missile attacks overnight into Monday. Dubai halted flights at its main airport following a fire at a fuel tank that it said was caused by an Iranian drone. It announced a gradual resumption a few hours later, though Emirates said some of its scheduled flights for the day would be canceled.

The key UAE oil-export port of Fujairah was hit again on Monday, following a strike on Saturday that forced it to suspend some shipments for about a day. (Bloomberg)

Dubai Abu Dhabi news LIVE: Emirates said it expects to run limited flights after 10 am today, following an earlier drone incident near Dubai International Airport that forced operations to stop.

The airline said some flights scheduled for today have been cancelled. Passengers affected by the disruption will receive a cancellation notice and will be informed about options for rebooking.

Dubai Abu Dhabi news LIVE: UE foreign ministers will meet on Monday to discuss expanding the bloc’s Red Sea naval mission to help reopen the strategically important Strait of Hormuz, the European Union’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas said.

The war involving Iran has largely stopped activity in the key shipping route, which usually carries around one fifth of the world’s crude oil supplies and large volumes of gas. The disruption has pushed oil prices higher.

"It is in our interest to keep the Strait of Hormuz open, and that's why we are also discussing what we can do in this regard," Kaja Kallas told journalists in Brussels before the meeting.

Dubai Abu Dhabi news LIVE: The key port of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates was struck again, forcing a halt to oil loading. The latest incident adds to a series of attacks targeting the facility, which is the country’s only export route that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz.

Oil loading operations were suspended on Monday as a precaution while the extent of the damage from the latest strike was being assessed, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. Oil loading at the port had resumed over the weekend after a drone attack caused a fire on Saturday.

Fujairah is an important hub for crude oil and fuel supplies. Its role has grown for both the United Arab Emirates and global markets because it lies outside the Strait of Hormuz, which has been almost completely closed due to the war. The port is connected by a pipeline to the main oil fields in Abu Dhabi.

Dubai Abu Dhabi news LIVE: Authorities in Fujairah confirmed that a fire broke out in the Fujairah Oil Industries area after a drone attack.

In a statement, the emirate’s media office said civil defence teams quickly reached the site and are working to control the fire.

No injuries have been reported in the incident.

Dubai Abu Dhabi news LIVE: The key port of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates was struck again on Monday in another attack on the facility, which serves as the country’s only export route that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz, news agencies Bloomberg News and Reuters reported.

People familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that the extent of the damage from the latest strike was still being assessed.

Oil loading operations at the port had resumed over the weekend after a drone strike triggered a fire on Saturday.

Dubai Abu Dhabi news LIVE: A Palestinian civilian was killed on the outskirts of the Emirati capital Abu Dhabi when a missile hit their car on Monday, authorities said, as Iran pressed on with strikes on the Gulf following US-Israeli attacks.

"Authorities in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi responded to an incident in the Al Bahia area involving a missile strike on a civilian vehicle, which resulted in the death of one Palestinian national," the Abu Dhabi Media Office said in a statement.

Dubai Abu Dhabi news LIVE: Dubai Police said traffic has returned to normal after some roads near the airport were temporarily closed.

Traffic is now moving again on Airport Street coming from Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Street and Al Khawaneej, as well as from the Marrakesh intersection towards Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Street.

The precautionary step had been taken after a drone incident involving a fuel tank in the area near Dubai International Airport.

Dubai Abu Dhabi news LIVE: Abu Dhabi authorities said on Monday that a missile had fallen on a civilian vehicle in the emirate’s Al Bahyah area. The incident resulted in the death of a Palestinian national.

“Abu Dhabi authorities have responded to an incident involving a missile falling on a civilian vehicle in the Al Bahyah area, resulting in one casualty of Palestinian nationality. The public is advised to obtain information only from official sources and to avoid spreading rumours or unverified information,” Abu Dhabi's media office said in a statement.