Dubai International Airport has been hit by an Iranian, forcing an evacuation at the busy hub in the United Arab Emirates. There have been a series of strikes across the Middle East following the United States’ and Israel’s joint operation on Iran on Saturday morning.

Before the hit on the airport, there had been several reports of strikes across Dubai, including at The Fairmont, a popular hotel on The Palm. There were also explosions in Jordan and Kuwait, forcing widespread cancellations and diversions across the Middle East.

Thousands evacuated as smoke spread through the airport’s terminal

Since then, panic ensued at Dubai International’s Terminal 3, thousands of passengers scrambling to evacuate as alarms blared. AIRLIVE reported that Emergency services and Dubai Civil Defence rushed to the scene to address the fires caused by the explosion.

By 5 pm EST today, over 1,800 flights were canceled flying to and from the Middle East. Moreover, several routes were diverted. Over 340 of these were at UAE airports, meaning 32% of the country’s flights didn’t go ahead.

Dubai-based Emirates has 269 flights scheduled through March 3rd. Of these, 177 are cancelled. Of these, leaving a total of 65% flights not going ahead. Additionally, compatriot, Etihad has 100 of its 200 flights canceled.

With Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, Bahrain, Iraq, and Israel all closing airspace, and the UAE partially closed. Passengers looking to leave the zone will be keeping a close eye on flight updates.