KUALA LUMPUR - For Malaysian Zaina Ahmad (not her real name), moving to Abu Dhabi, UAE, for work was a dream come true.
Within three weeks, the dream turned into a nightmare.
Staying in a hotel, where newly arrived employees in the UAE typically remain until securing their own accommodations, she first heard loud bangs and felt her seventh-floor room shake yesterday morning.
"I honestly thought it was construction, because in Malaysia, we’re not used to military attacks, right?” Zaina said via FaceTime.
The bangs were loud and strong, and her phone soon started lighting up with notifications from her co-workers, asking what the sounds were.
The loud bangs and shaking were not construction but were, in fact, intercepted missiles launched by Iran, targeting the US airbase in Abu Dhabi, located near Zaina’s hotel.
The missiles were in retaliation for US-Israel attacks on Iran earlier on Saturday. Other than Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Doha and other locations in the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Israel and Jordan were also hit.
Despite the deaths of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, and several high-ranking officials, the conflict shows no signs of abating. The Iranian government has vowed retaliation, while Israel and the US persist with their military onslaught.
Saturday’s barrage terrified Zaina, who is all alone in the country.
She told Bernama she did not leave the hotel all day, not even to buy food for iftar.
Luckily, having only recently moved to the UAE, she still had a supply of food, such as instant noodles.
"Actually, yesterday, I had initially planned to go out and buy groceries. But everyone was panicking. The explosions were really loud,” she said, admitting to feeling very anxious.
"Yesterday’s explosion was close. There was smoke outside my window. I think it was an intercepted missile. It was right outside my window, takut lah (I was terrified). The whole window was literally shaking the whole time.”
The booms went on intermittently till Sunday morning.
She could not sleep and spent the whole night in the bathroom, where it is safest. She went online, registered with the Malaysian embassy, checked the news, and assured family members she was safe for the time being.
Then she waited. Waited for the explosions to stop, for the safety announcement and to find out whether she had to work. But mostly, she waited for things to return to normal.
So far, other than official announcements on the situation, nothing much has changed.
When asked if she would leave the UAE once everything was ok, Zaina was unsure.
"Maybe I'll go back for a while to see my parents,” she said. - BERNAMA