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UAE Terrorism Threat

From the BBC :-

Quote:

British nationals in the United Arab Emirates have been warned there is now a high risk of a terror attack there.

Travel advice from the UK Foreign Office said terrorists might be planning indiscriminate attacks in places frequented by expatriates.

It did not give details about why there was believed to be a more serious threat than the general one previously issued to UK nationals.

Unlike neighbour Saudi Arabia, the UAE has had no major terrorism incidents.

Expatriates make up a majority of the population of the oil-rich state, which consists of seven individual emirates, including the main ones Dubai and Abu Dhabi. It is also a major tourist destination.

"High" is the most serious of four terrorism risk levels which the Foreign Office uses in its warnings, the others being "general", "underlying" and "low".

British officials do not usually comment on the reasons for specific changes in its foreign travel advice, but say conditions in overseas countries are constantly under review.

"There is a high threat from terrorism," an official travel advice notice for the country said. "We believe terrorists may be planning to carry out attacks in the UAE."

The web-posted advice says attacks could happen at any time and may target residential compounds, military, oil, transport and aviation interests.

"You should maintain a high level of security awareness, particularly in public places," the advice says.

However, the advice is prefaced by an assurance that the "vast majority of visits" to the UAE are "trouble-free".

At least 100,000 UK citizens are resident in the UAE and more than one million Britons travelled there in 2006, the British embassy says.

I've often thought that some of the westernised places in Dubai would be targetted at some stage. Places like The Irish Village would be very hard to protect.

In my opinion, if something *did* happen, it would kill Dubai as a tourist destination, and badly impact Emirates.

Cheers,
Rick

I just read that article myself. It's always been a possibility, but the article sounds like something I'd read in the U.S. -- saying the "vast majority" of visits are "trouble free" lightly implies that there are nonetheless evildoers getting small projects done !

Let's hope Sheikh Mo does keep things under control -- I'm on the IAH-DXB tonight!

I heard this on the BBC World Service radio coming home from work (in Kuwait).

I wasn't very surprised on the whole, except that the it was Dubai rather than smaller Gulf cities with higher shi'a activism/vocalism.

Finger's crossed it's just a "temporary" status, nothing will happen, and it will blow over. I remember when I used to live in Dubai, a couple of bombs went off. As it wasn't my local Spnney's, you just get on with it as I think most other resident expats would.

Tourism-wise though? Ouch.

Interesting news item and it does make me wonder some.

I have several friends who lived/live in Dubai and the rumor on the street was that it was understood that there would be no funny business at all there lest anyone associated would quickly find their assets frozen. Either the terrorist groups have run out of money and thus don't have to worry or the status quo has in some other way changed.

Interesting what with the goings on in the EU relative to current positioning vis a vis Iran.

Dubai is right on the doorstep of Iran. At the same time, Dubai is faily westernized, and is home to many American-run business, as well as Iranian-owned businesses. It doesn't take take a genius to put two and two to realize that Dubai is in a unique pickle, should anything happen.

Big possibility,

UAE is a soft target, very liberal in it's attitudes, full of non Muslim expatriates and very close geographically to Iran.

Not so much as "IF" but more like "WHEN"

I'm on a couple days holiday from Abu Dhabi staying at the Jumeirah Hilton. I got to chatting with a woman waiting for the lift last night. She had cut her vacation short by 2 days because of the warning and was flying back to Heathrow... an overreaction, definitely. But certainly can understand the concern.

Yet another diversionary tactic by unpopular politicians in the UK and US. Sure a terrorist attack could happen anywhere. Even Oklahoma City was attacked and students in American schools go on a shooting rampage in some small rural city. Cutting a trip to Dubai short because of it when there have been far more terrorist attacks in the UK itself is just totally ridiculous.

I've lived here for a few years now, and everyone I know has always had an awareness that there could be an attack - but truth be told, I feel much safer here than I do in London.

Also, there's the speculation that the latest alert might be reactionary - although if something happened (or nearly happened) here, we didn't hear about it...

Quote:

Originally Posted by moocherx (Post 9888035)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Basil B (Post 9894429)

Big possibility,

UAE is a soft target, very liberal in it's attitudes, full of non Muslim expatriates and very close geographically to Iran.

Not so much as "IF" but more like "WHEN"

The shia populations are amongst the most observed by authorities in and beyond the Gulf states -- that and my thought is that the greatest threat of terrorism activity in the UAE (of that which does not amount to a full armed revolution or a state-to-state conflict) comes from a sliver of sunni populations that aren't exactly thrilled that the UAE plays host to a substantial US military presence being used to facilitate operations in Iraq and in Afghanistan.

Remember that OBL's sympathizers are generally far less likely to be shias than sunnis. And remember that OBL's own associates have a longer and bloodier history of going after shias than going after even Americans.

Iran is not Dubai's primary problem when it comes to the threat of terrorist attacks on people in the UAE -- but that won't stop people from falsely asserting that Iran is a bigger issue than it is. Dubai is -- in more ways than many want to admit -- Iran's back-up financial facility.

Quote:

Originally Posted by directorguy_ (Post 9893069)

A unique pickle, but Iran is not the primary risk.

Quote:

Originally Posted by eliotbeer (Post 9899780)

Along the lines of what is mentioned in the second paragraph above, the UAE authorities have a history of picking up people and beating them into a bloody pulp to try to get information to "wrap up matters" and then either publicly hush it up or make only indirect references to what was wrapped up. That said, I think the UAE authorities are in over their head -- something will eventually happen -- and the British Foreign Office is engaging in CYA more than anything else with this alert.