{"id":700,"date":"2026-05-18T01:41:47","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T01:41:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arabnewsmonitor.com\/?p=700"},"modified":"2026-05-18T01:41:47","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T01:41:47","slug":"middle-east-war-live-drone-strikes-on-uae-and-saudi-arabia-fuel-escalation-fears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arabnewsmonitor.com\/?p=700","title":{"rendered":"Middle East war live: Drone strikes on UAE and Saudi Arabia fuel escalation fears"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"t-content t-content--article t-content--liveblog\" id=\"main-content\">\n<div class=\"t-content__above-main\">\n<div class=\"a-status-tag a-status-tag--breaking\">Live<\/div>\n<h1 class=\"t-content__title a-page-title\">Middle East war live: Drone strikes on UAE and Saudi Arabia fuel escalation fears<\/h1>\n<div class=\"m-master-tag\">\n<div class=\"a-tag-section\">\n                                    Middle East\n                            <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"t-content__metadata\">\n<div class=\"t-content__dates\">\n<p class=\"m-pub-dates\"><span class=\"m-pub-dates__date\">Issued on: <time datetime=\"2026-05-18T01:41:36+00:00\">18\/05\/2026 &#8211; 03:41<\/time><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"a-share-button\" data-root-share>\n<p>                        <span class=\"a-master-button__label\">Share<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"t-content__authors\">\n<div class=\"m-from-author\">\n                    <span class=\"m-from-author__by-label\"><br \/>\n                By:<br \/>\n            <\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"m-author\">\n<div class=\"m-author__name\">\n                                                    <a href=\"\/en\/author\/france-24\/\" title=\"FRANCE 24\" class=\"m-author__name__title\"><br \/>\n                                FRANCE 24<br \/>\n                            <\/a>\n                    <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"t-content__main-media\">\n<figure class=\"m-item-image m-item-image--16x9 m-item-image--has-caption\">\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"auto\" src=\"https:\/\/s.france24.com\/media\/display\/ce729d8a-51fc-11f1-b189-005056bf30b7\/w:1024\/p:16x9\/AP26137398226896.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/s.france24.com\/media\/display\/ce729d8a-51fc-11f1-b189-005056bf30b7\/w:388\/p:16x9\/AP26137398226896.jpg 388w,https:\/\/s.france24.com\/media\/display\/ce729d8a-51fc-11f1-b189-005056bf30b7\/w:720\/p:16x9\/AP26137398226896.jpg 720w,https:\/\/s.france24.com\/media\/display\/ce729d8a-51fc-11f1-b189-005056bf30b7\/w:1024\/p:16x9\/AP26137398226896.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1076px) 100vw, 1012px\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" alt=\"The Barakah nuclear power plant under construction in Abu Dhabi's Western desert in an undated photograph released by the United Arab Emirates' state-run WAM news agency\" loading=\"eager\" class=\"a-img \"><figcaption class=\"a-figcaption\">\n                <span>(FILE) The Barakah nuclear power plant under construction in Abu Dhabi&#8217;s Western desert in an undated photograph released by the United Arab Emirates&#8217; state-run WAM news agency.<\/span>                <span>\u00a9 Arun Girija, Emirates News Agency via AP<\/span>            <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"t-content__main\" data-article-content>\n<p class=\"t-content__chapo\">\n                                A drone strike caused a fire at a nuclear power plant in the United Arab Emirates, officials there said on Sunday, while Saudi Arabia reported intercepting three drones, as US President Donald Trump warned that Iran must act &#8220;fast&#8221; after efforts to end the US-Israeli war with Iran appeared to have stalled. Follow our liveblog for the latest updates.            <\/p>\n<div class=\"t-content__body u-clearfix\">\n<div id=\"em-WBMZ548504-F24-EN-20260518\" class=\"m-em-liveblog\" data-liveblog>\n<div>\n<div>\n                        <time datetime=\"2026-05-18T01:40:51+00:00\">18\/05\/2026 &#8211; 03:40<\/time><\/p>\n<h2>Israeli strike in east Lebanon kills Islamic Jihad commander<\/h2>\n<p>Israeli strikes killed seven people in Lebanon on Sunday, including an Islamic Jihad commander, Lebanese authorities and state media said, despite a fragile ceasefire as Hezbollah called US-brokered talks between the two countries a &#8220;dead end&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>The health ministry published a &#8220;preliminary toll&#8221; for Israel&#8217;s strikes on Sunday, with three people killed in the town of Tayr Felsay, including a child, and two killed in the town of Tayr Debba, including another child.<\/p>\n<p>It said 11 people were wounded in those strikes and four more were wounded in strikes in two other southern towns.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n                        <time datetime=\"2026-05-18T01:39:57+00:00\">18\/05\/2026 &#8211; 03:39<\/time><\/p>\n<h2>Drone strike causes fire at UAE nuclear plant<\/h2>\n<p>A drone strike caused a fire at a nuclear power plant in the United Arab Emirates, officials there said on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>Emirati officials said they were investigating the source of the strike and that the UAE had the full right to respond to such &#8220;terrorist attacks.&#8221; A diplomatic adviser to the UAE president said it represented a dangerous escalation, whether carried out by &#8220;the principal perpetrator&#8221; or one of its proxies.<\/p>\n<p>The UAE defence ministry said two other drones had been &#8220;successfully&#8221; dealt with, and that the drones had been launched from the &#8220;western border.&#8221; It did not elaborate.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n                        <time datetime=\"2026-05-18T01:38:58+00:00\">18\/05\/2026 &#8211; 03:38<\/time>                        <\/p>\n<p><span>Welcome to the FRANCE 24 liveblog covering events in the Middle East.\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/middle-east\/20260517-middle-east-live-uss-ford-returns-from-iran-war-after-longest-deployment-since-vietnam\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Click here<\/a><span>\u00a0to catch up on what happened yesterday.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<h2><a href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/middle-east\/20260517-middle-east-live-uss-ford-returns-from-iran-war-after-longest-deployment-since-vietnam\" target=\"_self\">Yesterday&#8217;s key developments:<\/a><\/h2>\n<p>\u2022\u00a0A drone strike <a href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/middle-east\/20260517-drone-strike-sparks-a-fire-on-the-edge-of-uae-nuclear-facility\" target=\"_self\">sparked a fire<\/a> near the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/tag\/united-arab-emirates\/\" target=\"_self\">United Arab Emirates<\/a>\u2019s Barakah nuclear power plant, in an attack Abu Dhabi condemned as a threat to regional security.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 After Israel said it had killed senior Hamas commander Ezzedine Al-Haddad in an airstrike, Prime Minister <a href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/tag\/benjamin-netanyahu\/\" target=\"_self\">Benjamin Netanyahu<\/a> said the country was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/middle-east\/20260517-most-of-the-architects-of-october-7-attacks-have-been-killed-says-netanyahu\" target=\"_self\">&#8220;very close&#8221; to killing all architects<\/a> of the October 7 attacks.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 US President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/tag\/donald-trump\/\" target=\"_self\">Donald Trump<\/a> issued a fresh warning to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/tag\/iran\/\" target=\"_self\">Iran<\/a> on Sunday, saying it had to move quickly towards a peace deal or &#8220;there won&#8217;t be anything left of them&#8221;.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"t-content__below-main\">\n<div class=\"t-content__tags\">\n<div class=\"m-section-title m-section-title--small\">Keywords for this article<\/div>\n<ul class=\"m-tags-list\">\n<li class=\"m-tags-list__tag\">\n                <a href=\"\/en\/tag\/iran\/\" class=\"a-hot-tag\" title=\"Iran\">    Iran<\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li class=\"m-tags-list__tag\">\n                <a href=\"\/en\/tag\/united-arab-emirates\/\" class=\"a-hot-tag\" title=\"United Arab Emirates\">    United Arab Emirates<\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li class=\"m-tags-list__tag\">\n                <a href=\"\/en\/tag\/saudi-arabia\/\" class=\"a-hot-tag\" title=\"Saudi Arabia\">    Saudi Arabia<\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li class=\"m-tags-list__tag\">\n                <a href=\"\/en\/tag\/drones\/\" class=\"a-hot-tag\" title=\"drones\">    drones<\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li class=\"m-tags-list__tag\">\n                <a href=\"\/en\/tag\/donald-trump\/\" class=\"a-hot-tag\" title=\"Donald Trump\">    Donald Trump<\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li class=\"m-tags-list__tag\">\n                <a href=\"\/en\/tag\/israel\/\" class=\"a-hot-tag\" title=\"Israel\">    Israel<\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li class=\"m-tags-list__tag\">\n                <a href=\"\/en\/tag\/lebanon\/\" class=\"a-hot-tag\" title=\"Lebanon\">    Lebanon<\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Live Middle East war live: Drone strikes on UAE and Saudi Arabia fuel escalation fears&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":701,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle-east"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=700"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":702,"href":"https:\/\/arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700\/revisions\/702"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}