From seeing air raid warnings to watching drones flying overhead, a south London man has spoken about his experience of finding himself in Qatar at the outbreak of war, writes Maya Sgaravato-Grant…
Ahmed, a British man in his mid-twenties who arrived in the Gulf nation to visit family just as the conflict was beginning to unfold, told of having to alter his routine due to air raid alerts, and of a series of cancelled flights – but also of an otherwise surprisingly ‘normal’ atmosphere within the country.
This came as Iran had launched strikes on US military bases and strategic structural infrastructure in Qatar, as well as on a number of other Gulf states which cooperate extensively with the US military, in response to US and Israeli attacks on its territory.
Ahmed first learnt of the conflict from family members upon landing, having arrived on the day Iranian attacks commenced. However, he recounted not ‘really thinking anything of it’ until some hours later.
He said: “I fell asleep for most of the day, and I woke up and my relatives were like, ‘oh, there’s been some missiles heard’.
“And then we did actually see them in the evening – or rather you wouldn’t see the missiles, you’d see the interception, but you’d hear them, at any point they happened.
“It would only really happen in very short bursts, so the doors would shake a lot, and the building would shake a little, but more like a big dull sound. It was very distinctive.”
More than 1000 people were killed in the first few days of the conflict, with the vast majority of casualties being Iranian.
Within Qatar itself bombing suddenly became a daily occurrence, leading to 16 injuries, mainly from falling shrapnel and debris. However, most drones are intercepted before reaching their targets, preventing harm from being more widespread.
“My relatives would get the alarm notification because their phones are registered to Qatar, so they had the alarms go off a bit during the day, and then in the evenings, they went off again,” Ahmed said.
He added: “And then we could see the actual interception from outside our window – it was pretty heavy as well on the first night.
“You could see in the sky, stuff getting shot upwards, and bright flashes, then when they’d hit, you’d see the fallout.
“It was a bit surreal, we didn’t go out for the first couple of days.”
However, despite these episodes, Ahmed emphasised how the atmosphere in the country seemed relatively calm, especially as residential areas were not targeted by the attacks.
He explained: “It didn’t feel amazingly scary.
“The first time you see [drones], you’re like ‘oh, is that a really big deal?’ But it didn’t feel like that.
“I’d say by the second, third, fourth day, it was pretty normal, most cars were out on the street all the time, people were out on the streets – even when you’d see the bombing happen, you could still see people walking around because [the bombing] wasn’t in the residential area.
“It was pretty calm and collected.”
While under no impression of being in immediate danger, Ahmed’s difficulty lay in getting home.
All flights in Qatar, like those in several neighbouring countries, were grounded for a period of time, leaving more than 100,000 Brits effectively stranded in the region.
Qatar partially reopened its airspace on 6 March to allow for ‘passenger evacuation’ and air cargo services, but only a small number of flights were permitted to run, meaning that many hoping to return home were faced with cancellations. This, coupled with high demand, made it difficult to get a place on the flights that were confirmed to be running.
Ahmed, too, was affected by flight problems, having to rebook tickets three times after his first two journeys were cancelled. He was eventually able to take a relief flight back.
He said: “When the airspace was still closed, I think the bit that was frightening to people was ‘how do we leave if we want to?’
“But then Dubai opened up flights, and Saudi Arabia always had flights, so you always knew you could leave if you needed to.”
While Ahmed is now back in the UK, the situation in Qatar remains difficult, something which he reflected on.
Ahmed said: “Maybe it felt less frightening while I was there, because [my family was] all together, and also Iran was pretty clear about how they’re not targeting residential areas.
“Obviously stuff picks up, and I think with the bombing, you do wonder about debris and that being dangerous, but it didn’t feel too bad at the time.”
“So I think everyone’s just like, if it doesn’t really escalate, then it’s not too bad, but it’s just obviously what if it does escalate?”
