The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia reported fresh drone attacks yesterday.
Emirati air defenses intercepted two drones but a third struck an electrical generator on the edge of the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant, on the Gulf coast relatively close to the Saudi border.
Emirati officials said a fire erupted but no one was injured and no radiation was released.
It is not clear if the plant was targeted.
Emirati authorities said the three drones were launched from the “western border,” obliquely suggesting the involvement of Iraqi Shia militias closely linked to the Iranian regime’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Saudi Arabia said it intercepted three drones launched at its territory from Iraq.
The IRGC and its Iraqi proxies have staged sporadic drone attacks on the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and to a lesser extent Bahrain and Qatar since Iran and the United States implemented a ceasefire on 8 April.
The drone attacks are meant to keep the Gulf Arab countries off balance.
With the US and Iran unable to reach an agreement on ending the war, the drone menace risks becoming a new normal.
Reports emerged last week that the US and Israel were carrying out intense preparations for renewing airstrikes against Iran.
The IRGC was unable to respond to devastating US and Israeli bombing of regime leadership and military and strategic assets that began on 28 February and continued for 38 days.
But the regime survived, emerging with significant leverage by choking ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway at the mouth of the Gulf through which 20 percent of global oil supplies and other important commodities normally pass.
It is unclear what further US and Israeli bombing might achieve.
This service continues to recommend that all travel to the Arabian Peninsula south of Turkey be suspended. Those on the ground should consider departing by their own means.
Personnel who must be in the Gulf Arab countries should be cognizant that commercial flights would be disrupted again if the US-Iran ceasefire breaks down and full-scale hostilities re-erupt. They should curtail circulation and steer well clear of US diplomatic facilities, military bases and oil and gas infrastructure – all of which were prime Iranian missile and drone targets from 28 February to 8 April. They should monitor the advice of local authorities and their embassies. High-rises are not ideal places to be, and those in a multi-story hotel or apartment building should keep in mind that underground parking garages are relatively secure from drone attack but not immune and that stairways rather than elevators should be used in the event of drone attack or fire. In the event of an air attack alert, windows should be given wide berth.
The Gulf Arab countries routinely are arresting people, including Westerners, who share cell phone videos of or social media posts about local military assets and Iranian missile and drone impacts.
Even seemingly innocent sharing of such materials should be avoided.
Israel and the Lebanese government on Friday extended their ceasefire agreement for 45 more days, keeping in place the lull in fighting between Israeli forces and the Lebanese Shia militia Hizbollah, an Iranian proxy.
Despite the ceasefire, fighting has rekindled in the past three weeks, with Israel on 6 May staging an airstrike in Beirut for the first time since the ceasefire went into effect on 16 April.
Full-scale hostilities between Israel and Hizbollah almost certainly would re-erupt if the US-Iran ceasefire collapses.
Personnel who must be in Israel should continue to curtail circulation, familiarize themselves with the nearest bomb shelters, and heed air attack alerts and directions of authorities without exception. Personnel should keep well clear of the Lebanese border.
Personnel who must be in Lebanon should remain in Christian suburbs north of Beirut and even there should curtail circulation. They should avoid central Beirut entirely.
Lebanon’s Middle East Airlines has operated some flights to and from Beirut’s international airport, which is situated in the Hizbollah-dominated southern suburbs of the city. But the airport and roads to it cannot be considered safe given recent heavy Israeli airstrikes in the immediate vicinity.
In past wars, foreigners evacuated Lebanon by boat from the Christian suburbs north of Beirut, an option feasible only if a place on a professionally operated boat and secure transportation to water’s edge is pre-arranged.
Personnel in Jordan, where US military bases were targeted by Iranian missiles and Iranian missiles and drones aimed at Israel constantly flew overhead from 28 February to 8 April, should continue to curtail circulation. The country should not be visited and those on the ground should depart by their own means.
