Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed his concern on Monday following a missile interception at Khor Fakkan Port, in the United Arab Emirates, which resulted in the injury of four civilians, three of Pakistani nationality.
In the statements posted on X, the prime minister expressed his great concern regarding the event, adding that one of the projectiles was intercepted and that it led to the injuries of civilians, including Pakistani citizens.
He said that Pakistan was in close contact with the UAE authorities to provide the required support to the affected nationals and wished to see the injured recover quickly. The prime minister also reiterated that Pakistan stood with the citizens of the UAE and urged restraint and de-escalation in the face of increasing tensions in the region.
As the Sharjah Media Office has accredited, the incident happened when the remains of a missile that the UAE air defence system intercepted fell at the Khor Fakkan Port, igniting a fire. Emergency response teams rushed to the rescue, put the situation under control, and started cooling operations.
According to Reuters, the authorities spotted an Iranian-owned drone flying towards one of the buildings that are managed by a telecommunications company, but it is not known whether the drone hit the building or inflicted any physical damage on it.
The event is against the background of rising tensions in the area, and the Gulf nations are getting more exposed to missile and drone attacks associated with the Iran-United States-Israel conflict. In the recent escalation, four Pakistani nationals have been reported to have lost their lives in the UAE as a result of falling debris from the interception of the missiles.
In the meantime, the US President Donald Trump threatened to impose serious consequences in case the Strait of Hormuz, a very important oil shipping route in the world, is closed. The current war has seen the use of missiles and drones repeatedly across the Gulf states, and this has caused concerns about the possibility of regional instability.
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