UAE apologises for ‘incorrect’ missile alerts
Authorities said the warnings were a mistake and have been fixed after a technical error sent false missile attack alerts to residents’ phones.
General view of the Burj Khalifa and the downtown skyline in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Sep 30, 2021. (Photo: REUTERS/Mohammed Salem)
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DUBAI: Emirati authorities apologised on Friday (Jun 26) after “incorrect alert messages” warning of a potential missile attack caused jitters among residents.
The official messages sent to mobile phones, warning of “potential missile threats” and accompanied by a blaring siren sound, were the first in more than a month.
They became commonplace during the Middle East war, when Iran targeted the United Arab Emirates with more than 2,800 drones and missiles, most of them intercepted.
But Friday’s alerts were quickly followed by another instruction to “please disregard the previous warning”. Emergency authorities later apologised for the mishap.
“The National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority and the relevant entities apologise for this unintentional technical malfunction,” said a statement posted on X.
The “sudden technical malfunction in the early warning system” has been “addressed and handled via authorities”, it said.
The oil-rich UAE, which like other Gulf countries hosts US troops, found itself on the frontline of Iran’s retaliation for US-Israeli strikes that killed its supreme leader.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Abu Dhabi this week during a tour aimed at reassuring hard-hit Gulf countries over peace talks with Iran.
Source: AFP/fs
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