Videos widely circulating on social media shed light on the exact moment the luxurious Fairmont The Palm in Dubai’s Palm Jumeirah island was hit by a missile in the United Arab Emirates on Saturday. Dramatic visuals of the development captured panic-stricken tourists running for cover as massive flames engulfed the landmark. (Check our live coverage / highlights of the first day of US-Israel war on Iran here.)

Videos show moment when Fairmont Hotel was left in flames

One such piece of phone footage, which appears to have been captured from a building opposite the hotel was ultimately also verified by the BBC. It turned the camera to the moment a drone dove toward the ground at the entrance of the Fairmont hotel. According to the eyewitness’s clip, a missile can be heard in the distance until it finally strikes the building.

The eyewitness capturing the incident on their phone apparently falls to the floor as the sky turns orange right after the explosion in front of them. A dark plume of smoke eventually took over the scene.

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Other such videos of the scene verified by CNN showed massive flames erupting from the Dubai hotel. Yet another clip captured by an eyewitness from a different building at a great distance zooms in to show the moment of impact.

British influencer at the scene of the Dubai explosion

English influencer Will Bailey was at the scene of the incident. Taking to his Instagram account, he also posted a video showing smoke emanating from the Fairmont Hotel. “Missile strike in Dubai,” he wrote over the clip. “I was meters away.”

Speaking to GBN News, he said, “We knew stuff was going on, and then all we’re seeing was that the missiles being intercepted overhead for four or five hours, and nobody was really paying much attention. As we were leaving, that’s when that happened at the Fairmont Hotel.”

“We’ve moved away from mainland Dubai to somewhere quite far out. We can still hear and see missiles overhead.”

Initial confirmations from the officials didn’t name the luxury hotel that had been impacted by the missile strike in Dubai following the US and Israel’s joint attack on Iran. A BBC report cited local officials saying that four people were injured in a blaze at a building in the Palm Jumeirah area. No further details were provided at the time.

Consequently, Dubai authorities also revealed that debris from an intercepted drone caused damage at another famous luxury hotel in the city, the Burj Al Arab.

“Civil Defence teams responded immediately and brought the incident under control. No injuries have been reported,” the Dubai Media office wrote on X. Additionally, it even briefly mentioned that part of Dubai’s international airport had “sustained minor damage in an incident.”

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Iran’s counter-attack after US-Israel launch war

Iran was responsible for this particular explosion at the world-famous Dubai hotel, as the war launched by the US and Israel on Iran quickly spread to the rest of the Middle East over the weekend.

Iran responded with its own retaliatory actions within hours of the first strikes targeting it as part of the US-Israel joint operation. The Iranian government confirmed Saturday that its wide-ranging attacks had targeted several countries, including the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar, all of which host airbases with US assets.