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“I don’t know if you just heard that, but it sounded like something just went off.”
Those are the words of Graison Foster, a Canadian living in Dubai, in an interview with Global News on Sunday as Iran was launching missiles at various Middle East countries.
The missile strikes are part of Iran’s retaliation as the U.S. and Israel continue their bombardment of the country, which led to the death of its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday.
Iran has launched strikes at the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Qatar, Bahrain and Israel, as well as several other nations in the region.
Foster told Global News she was getting out of her rental car Saturday night when she saw something.
“I saw something go over and I thought, ‘Huh, that’s interesting, what is that?’ And you know the sound when a jet goes over and you hear that (sound) and all of a sudden it was boom and the explosion hit,” she said.
She said the missile hit the Fairmont The Palm hotel located in the Palm Jumeirah, where she lives. Photos taken by Reuters on Sunday show damage to the hotel.
After the missile hit, Foster said people started filming and taking photos before a “bunch of missiles started to come over.”
“Of course, they’re intercepting them so they’re exploding up in the sky,” she said. “But the sound of it and the visuals of it is of course very daunting and surreal. I’ve never experienced anything like this in my life, of course, growing up in Canada.”
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The people who had gathered, including Foster, ran into a nearby restaurant and stayed there for several hours.
Foster said emergency alerts have made the situation more stressful.
“I tried to go to sleep last night at about 1:30 in the morning,” she said. “They put out an emergency alert system, we’ve gotten a few of those on our phones. Missiles were definitely being intercepted, so that sound, it is the sound that is jarring and it makes you panic.”
Foster added the government in Dubai has put out statements on social media about where safe spaces are located, and advised people to pack necessities in case they are needed.
Canadians urged to shelter in place, register for information
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand on Sunday posted on X urging Canadians in Middle East and Gulf States to remain sheltered in place as hostilities continue in the region.
“Canadians in the broader region should follow local guidance and evacuate only when safe to do so,” Anand wrote.
She went on to say surge consular support under Canada’s standing rapid deployment team has been deployed to the surrounding region to help Canadians in multiple countries. Those countries include Turkiye, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Jordan and Israel.
People are asked to sign up at Registration of Canadians Abroad in order to receive up to date information.
“We condemn the Iranian Regime’s indiscriminate attacks against civilian infrastructure across the region, including the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and Jordan,” Anand wrote. “These attacks are a dangerous threat to regional stability and civilian safety.”
According to Global Affairs Canada, 2,934 Canadians and permanent residents were registered as being in Iran as of Feb. 27. Another 22,944 were in Lebanon, 5,527 in Israel, and 434 in Palestine.
The agency said there are more than 75,000 registrations across the broader Middle East, but added the numbers are a general estimate as registration is voluntary.
Global News requested updated numbers as of Sunday, but did not hear back by publication.
Queen’s University students stranded in Doha
Foster is just one of many people from Canada living in or visiting one of the several countries being targeted by Iran.
It’s been an equally difficult situation for several Queen’s University students who are stranded at an airport in Doha, Qatar.
The group had boarded a flight home to Toronto following a field course in Sri Lanka, with a stopover in Doha, when they heard an announcement mid-flight that the airspace was closed.
“There was an initial panic among me and my classmates,” said fourth-year undergraduate biology student Claire Haffner.
She said the Qatar Airways flight returned to Doha, where passengers were kept on board before disembarking into what she described as a “chaotic scene” inside the airport.
The group is now waiting to find out when they will be able to leave as the airspace remains closed.
—with files from Global News’ Prisha Dev, Heidi Petracek and Aaron D’Andrea, and The Associated Press
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