Explosions rocked cities across the Gulf Saturday, killing a civilian in Abu Dhabi, while smoke and flames rose from Dubai landmark The Palm as Iran launched waves of attacks in retaliation for US and Israeli strikes.
The attacks hit Kuwait's airport, as well as Gulf military bases and residential areas, raising fears of a wider conflict and rattling a region long seen as a haven of peace and security in the region.
Four people were injured at the luxury Palm development, and missiles streaked across the skies of every Gulf country but Oman, a mediator in the recent US-Iran talks.
"We are scared of what the future is for us now, and we can't say how the next few days are going to be," Maha Manbaz, a nursing student in Doha told AFP.
"We're definitely scared if Iran continues to retaliate against the US."
Many of the missiles and drones were intercepted, but smoke poured from US bases in Abu Dhabi and Manama, home of the American navy's Fifth Fleet, witnesses saw.
Dozens of loud, window-rattling bangs echoed over Gulf cities throughout the day, the second Saturday of the holy month of Ramadan.
A drone struck Kuwait's international airport and a base housing US personnel was targeted. Three Kuwaiti soldiers and 12 other people were wounded, authorities said.
Falling debris killed a Pakistani civilian in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates' capital, authorities said.
Residential buildings were also targeted in Bahrain's capital Manama, with officials saying firefighters and civil defence teams had been dispatched to the scene.
"The sound of the first explosion terrified me," said a 50-year-old retiree living near the US base in Manama's Juffair area, where residents were quickly evacuated.
The UAE and Saudi Arabia both warned they reserved the right to respond to the attacks.
The oil-and-gas rich Arab monarchies, lying just across the Gulf from Iran, are long-term American allies and host a clutch of US military bases.
However, they also maintain ties with Tehran -- once their arch-foe. The UAE and Saudi Arabia were attacked despite pledging not to let US forces use their territory for operations against Iran.
"The Gulf states are sandwiched between Iran and Israel, and have to bear the worst inclinations of both," said Bader al-Saif, an assistant professor at Kuwait University.
"Iran's attacks on the Gulf are misplaced. They'll only alienate its neighbours and invite further distancing from Iran," he added.
Conflict is unusual in the Gulf, which has traded on its reputation for stability to become the Middle East's commercial and diplomatic hub.
The unprecedented barrage also targeted Qatar, host of the region's biggest US military base, as well as Riyadh and eastern Saudi Arabia.
The UAE, Qatar and Kuwait all announced that their airspace was closed.
An AFP journalist in Qatar saw one missile destroyed in a puff of white smoke, while another in Dubai saw a volley of Patriot interceptors taking off.
Doha shook under several salvos of missiles, with authorities saying they were suspending maritime transport.
Al Udeid base in Qatar houses CENTCOM, the region's American military command, as well as its air and special operations forces.
Iran fired missiles at Al Udeid last June after US strikes targeted Iranian nuclear facilities during a brief war with Israel.
The escalation also saw Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed speak for the first time since a public row in late December.
The Saudi de facto ruler called the Emirati president and the pair discussed Iran's retaliatory strikes on the Gulf and expressed solidarity and sympathy.
Abu Dhabi also hosts US forces at the Al Dhafra base, where two witnesses told AFP they saw smoke rising from the facility.
In Kuwait, an Iranian missile attack caused "significant damage" to the runway at an air base hosting Italian air force personnel, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani was quoted by the ANSA news agency as saying.
For many residents in the Gulf, which has drawn a cosmopolitan, largely expat population, the reaction was one of shock.
"I heard the explosions, I don't know what I felt," a Lebanese woman living in Riyadh told AFP.
"We came to the Gulf because it's known to be safer than Lebanon. Now I don't know what to do or how to think really."
