The Dubai Decompression Loop

Photo by David Rodrigo

The mountains always felt close when the aircraft lifted out of Kabul. During the Afghanistan war, Dubai became a strange airlock between two worlds—where the conflict seemed, briefly, to stop.

That illusion has grown harder to sustain. After savage US and Israeli strikes on Iran, followed by vicious retaliatory missile and drone attacks across the Gulf, airlines have had to redraw flight routes, parts of regional airspace have closed, and Dubai International has had to briefly suspend operations.