Story by Helen Livingstone /BBC News- Samantha Dick/ABC News
Australia’s defence minister has confirmed that an air base used by Australian forces near Dubai was hit by a drone at the weekend, adding that no Australians were injured in the attack.
“On the first night there was a strike at the Al Minhad Air Base, but all the Australians who are there are safe and accounted for,” Richard Marles has told reporters.
The UAE air base is used by multiple western militaries, and is the Australian Defence Force’s Middle East headquarters. Marles says Australia has 100 personnel in the Middle East, with most stationed in the UAE.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has previously said his country backs the US and Israel “acting to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and to prevent Iran continuing to threaten international peace and security”.
Defence Minister Richard Marles says Australian personnel are “safe and accounted for” after Iran struck an air base used by Australian forces near Dubai.
Mr Marles said an Iranian drone strike hit the Al Minhad Air Base on the first night of the conflict, but no personnel were injured.
The base is about 40 kilometres outside of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
Mr Marles said about 100 serving Australian Defence Force personnel were stationed across countries in the Middle East.
Not all are based at Al Minhad, but most are in the UAE.
ADF personnel have been using Al Minhad as an operational headquarters since 2003, according to the Defence Department, maintaining a smaller force since the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan.
It is not the first time an Australian base has come under attack.
An Iraqi military base hosting more than 300 ADF personnel was hit by three rockets in 2019.
ADF personnel were stationed at the base as part of a joint mission with New Zealand to train Iraqi forces.
Mr Marles reiterated the Albanese government’s support for the US-Israeli strikes on Iran, though he conceded “it’s very difficult to speculate on how long the conflict will last”.
“We’ve been very clear we support the action, having as a core aim denying Iran the ability to acquire a deployable nuclear weapon, which would obviously be a catastrophe for the world,” he said.
Dubai’s international airport and its landmark Burj Al Arab hotel were also damaged over the weekend in Iran’s retaliatory attacks targeting the Gulf states and wider Middle Eastern neighbours.
Other explosions were reported on Dubai’s Palm Jumeirah man-made island.
About 115,000 Australians are in the Middle East region, with 11,000 travelling through the region each day when flights are operating normally.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said she had spoken to UAE Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan to seek support for travellers.
“The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is working around the clock to provide assistance to Australians,” Senator Wong said in a statement.
“Australia condemns the Iranian regime’s indiscriminate and reckless attacks on the UAE, including on civilians and civilian infrastructure.”
