Iran war LIVE: Huge fire from drone strike shuts down Dubai airport

A large fire erupted near Dubai International Airport early Monday after a drone strike hit a nearby fuel tank, forcing authorities to temporarily halt flight operations as a precaution amid the ongoing US-Israel-Iran conflict in the Middle East.

Dubai officials confirmed that civil defence teams were swiftly dispatched to contain the blaze, and no injuries have been reported so far. The incident occurred at one of the world’s busiest airports, located close to Dubai’s city centre.

The attack followed Iran’s call a day earlier for the evacuation of three major ports in the United Arab Emirates (UAE)—the first time Tehran has directly threatened non-US assets in a neighbouring country. Iran accused Washington of using UAE facilities to launch recent strikes on Kharg Island, the hub of its oil export operations.

“The drone incident near Dubai International Airport (DXB) affected one of the fuel tanks. Dubai Civil Defence teams are working to bring the fire under control. No injuries have been reported,” the Dubai Media Office stated.

US President Donald Trump said Sunday that he has “demanded” that about seven countries heavily reliant on Middle East oil join a coalition to police the Strait of Hormuz.

About one-fifth the world's traded oil flows through the waterway.

This came after Trump's appeal to China, France, Japan, South Korea, Britain and others to send warships to keep the Strait of Hormuz “open and safe” brought no commitments on Sunday as oil prices soar during the Iran war.

The president declined to name the countries he the administration is negotiating with for protection for the strait.

“I'm demanding that these countries come in and protect their own territory, because it is their own territory,” Trump said about the strait, claiming the vital shipping channel is not something the United States needs because of its own access to oil.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told CBS that Tehran has been “approached by a number of countries” seeking safe passage for their vessels, “and this is up to our military to decide.” He said a group of vessels from “different countries” had been allowed to pass, without providing details.

The brother of a man who attacked a Michigan synagogue last week, who was killed earlier this month in an Israeli airstrike, was a Hezbollah commander, Israel's military claimed Sunday.

Ibrahim Ghazali was killed in Lebanon along with three other of the attacker's relatives on March 5 — a week before authorities allege Ayman Mohamad Ghazali drove his car into a major synagogue outside Detroit and killed himself after security fired at him.

The FBI's Detroit office, which is investigating the synagogue attack, declined to comment on the claims by Israel's military about Ibrahim Ghazali.

On Thursday, Ayman Ghazali waited in his car outside Temple Israel, near Detroit, for about two hours with a rifle, commercial grade fireworks and jugs of liquid believed to be gasoline, before crashing into the building full of dozens of children, according to authorities.

At least 12 Palestinians, including two boys, a pregnant woman and eight police officers, were killed Sunday by Israeli airstrikes in the war-torn Gaza Strip, hospital authorities said.

A strike Sunday morning hit a house in the urban refugee camp of Nuseirat in central Gaza and killed four people, including a couple in their 30s and their 10-year son, according to the nearby Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. The woman had been pregnant with twins, the hospital said.

The fourth fatality, a 15-year-old neighbor, was taken to the Awda hospital in Nuseirat.

“We were sleeping and got up to the strike of a missile. The strike was strong,” said Mahmoud al-Muhtaseb, a neighbor. “There was no prior warning.” Another strike Sunday afternoon hit a police vehicle on the south-north Salah al-Din route at the entrance of the central town of Zawaida, the Hamas-run Interior Ministry said.

The UN statement says the gunfire “likely by non-state armed groups” happened while peacekeepers were patrolling around their bases on Sunday. It says two patrols fired back and no peacekeepers were injured.

The Israel military's statement says the territory's crossing with Egypt will open Wednesday for “limited” movement in both directions: people only, not cargo. It says procedures will be the same as before the crossing closed.

Israel closed Gaza's crossings on the first weekend of the Iran war. Rafah has been critical for medical evacuations abroad.

Iraq's Security Media Cell, affiliated with the country's security forces, said Sunday that Baghdad International Airport and its surroundings were hit by rockets, injuring four airport security personnel and staff, as well as an engineer.

Two security officials said a former US base adjacent to the airport, which still provides logistical support to US operations, was targeted with drones and Katyusha rockets.

Iran-backed militias in Iraq have launched a series of attacks on US facilities in the country since the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran, triggering the ongoing war in the Middle East.

The Security Media Cell added that the rocket launch platform was found hidden inside a vehicle in an area west of the capital and seized. It said that authorities have relieved a number of sector commanders and intelligence officers of their duties and initiated legal procedures over the incident.

Germany on Sunday indicated that it won't participate in the Strait of Hormuz mission now.

Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said on ARD television, “Will we soon be an active part of this conflict? No.” Wadephul said “we will only get security for the Strait of Hormuz … if there is a negotiated solution.” He said he is sceptical about expanding the European Union's naval mission in the Red Sea, called Operation Aspides, to the Strait of Hormuz because it hasn't been effective in its current area.

Dozens of Iranians crossed into northern Iraq on Sunday — the first day the border had opened since war struck their country — to buy cheaper groceries, access the internet, contact relatives and find work.

Travellers said constant airstrikes and soaring food prices have made life in Iran increasingly desperate.

Trucks laden with goods snaked through the Haji Omeran crossing from Iraq's Kurdish region, offering a hoped for respite from high costs on the Iranian side.

Even before the US and Israel launched their war against Iran, Iranian Kurds routinely crossed into Iraqi Kurdistan, sharing deep familial, cultural and economic ties and porous borders that enable steady trade and regular visits. Now Iraq's Kurdish region has become a crucial lifeline for Iranians in the war-torn region to reach the outside world.

The border was closed in response to heightened regional military tensions. Iraqi Kurdish authorities have been waiting for their Iranian counterparts to reopen the crossing.

Air India and Air India Express will operate 48 scheduled and non-scheduled flights to and from the Middle East on Monday.

The two airlines will have their scheduled operations to Jeddah and Muscat, including a total of 10 flights between Indian cities and Jeddah, a release said.

Air India will operate one return service each from Delhi and Mumbai, while Air India Express will operate one flight each from Bengaluru, Kozhikode and Mangalore.

Also, Air India Express will operate 12 scheduled flights to and from Muscat, with one service each from Delhi, Kannur, Mumbai and Thiruvananthapuram and two services from Kochi, Air India said in the release.

Earlier in the day, IndiGo said flight operations in Dubai have been further restricted, due to which some of its scheduled services between March 15 and 17 have been affected.