“Do you know what it feels like as a Cuban to see a ballistic missile rise from your balcony in Dubai? True story.” With that phrase, the Cuban doctor Alejandro Terry, residing in that city, recounted how he witnessed the day when war broke into one of the safest enclaves in the Middle East.
In a lengthy testimony on his Facebook profile, Terry recounted that the day started off completely normally: an early breakfast, strong coffee, lunch prepared with rice, beans, and chicken, and a commute to work, where he serves as a manager in a stretching studio.
The morning passed amid clients and training new instructors, until a casual comment about a possible complication in the area alerted him that something unusual was happening.
Minutes later, he received a call asking him to return home immediately due to vibrations in the building and evacuations.
"I felt something strange in my chest. It wasn't fear yet; it was confusion," he wrote. Along the way, he noticed unusual traffic, hurried people, and an atmosphere of widespread alarm.
Once at his home, distant explosions began to be heard. From the balcony, he saw a THAAD interceptor missile rising. "It's a line of fire ascending in the sky, bright, violent, fast. Like a lightning bolt in reverse," he described.
He reported multiple launches, aerial explosions, and the shaking of walls while his phone issued official alerts instructing people to take shelter indoors.
In a video released later, he stated that the situation created "a state of war" in the country and that he had never witnessed missile interceptions in the air.
"I was a bit in shock," she said, although she assured that she was fine and that the authorities were responding.
The Cuban emphasized that the government communications were clear and that the defense systems operated swiftly.
According to their account, the American-made THAAD and Patriot missiles intercepted threats while the government insisted on maintaining calm.
“Dubai has never been attacked like this. Never,” he emphasized, stressing that the city has no recent memory of a similar experience.
His testimony comes after attacks from Iran struck facilities in Dubai, including the Fairmont The Palm hotel in Palm Jumeirah, where a fire and four injuries were reported, as well as an incident involving drone debris that caused a minor fire on the facade of the Burj Al Arab, according to official confirmations.
The Ministry of Defence of the United Arab Emirates confirmed it had intercepted 137 missiles and over 200 drones, describing the action as a “flagrant violation of national sovereignty and international law.” Iranian media claimed to have attacked Dubai without specifying targets.
As a result of the regional escalation, the death of Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, was confirmed by Tehran following a joint military operation carried out by the United States and Israel against strategic targets in the Persian nation.
In response, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced attacks against U.S. bases in the region and targets in Israel.
In this context, the Epic Fury Operation has resulted in three U.S. soldiers killed and five severely injured, as confirmed by the U.S. Central Command.
President Donald Trump warned that he will respond with "an unprecedented level of force" if Iran carries out new offensives against American or Israeli interests.
While governments exchange threats and military figures, Terry's account reflects the human impact of the escalation: the interrupted routine, the hurried preparation of a backpack with documents and passport, the sound of explosions, and the image of interceptor missiles crossing the sky of a city that, until now, had been perceived as an oasis untouched by war.
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