Scots caught up in Middle East crisis 'just waiting for the next explosion'

Scots stranded in the Middle East have been speaking of their fear and alarm following a joint US and Israeli strike on Iran.

The region has been plunged deeper into crisis after Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in an attack on Saturday.

Missile and drone strikes were launched following the breakdown of talks on the country's nuclear activities.

Iran responded with a barrage of rocket and missile attacks on neighbouring countries.

Felicity Flanagan, from Edinburgh, is currently working as a primary school teacher in Dubai. She was at the beach with friends when she heard "two or three loud bangs".

"Moments later we actually saw what we believed to be shrapnel from a missile fall into the water in front of us," she told BBC Scotland News.

"It was at that point that I picked up my phone. I had multiple text messages from my boyfriend and a phone call from my brother, and I think it was at that moment that we realised something was definitely really wrong."

Felicity returned home, where her boyfriend and his work colleague took shelter in the bathroom.

"We got a text message from the government with a loud siren through our phones warning us to stay sheltered, but also to stay away from windows," she added.

Caitlyn Chalmers, from Kilbirnie in North Ayrshire, also works as a teacher and has been living in Qatar's capital, Doha, for 10 years.

The 34-year-old said the apartment block she lives in shook as missiles were intercepted "right above our heads".

"You don't know what to do for the best," she said.

"It's just a feeling of helplessness.

"The days just feel like they're just going on and on and on, and you're just waiting for that next explosion."

Caitlin lives with her two rescue dogs, Chance and Brea, and fears that if the conflict worsens, she won't be able to evacuate with them.

"For me, the most important thing is my dogs and they're not fit to fly yet. They need some blood tests and even if I started the process now, the bloods need to be sent overseas and the airspace is closed.

"I just won't board the plane and some people might say it's stupid, other people might understand, but for me these dogs are my family."

Leanne Baikie from Orkney has been living in the United Arab Emirates for the last three years, where she works as cabin crew for Emirates Airlines.

"I got back to Dubai yesterday morning after working on a flight back to Milan and I woke up from a nap to find all this news and information and messages about the attack starting," she said.

Leanne added that getting updates from work about what was happening with disruption to flights had helped to put her "at ease".

"You've kind of got a little heads-up to know what's going on," she said.

Leanne is being visited by her friend Shannon Whiting, who had hoped to fly home on Wednesday, while Leanne's parents were due to fly out to visit the same day.

"We've been told that flights are cancelled till 3pm tomorrow, but it's literally just a kind of a waiting game."

Shannon had been visiting Leanne in Dubai for the last month-and-a-half and was due to return back to work in a unisex hair salon in Kirkwall.

"Now I don't know if I'm going to get home. I have no idea if I'm going to be able to service the customers, she said.

"It's a bit of a disaster in that sense. But what can you do, you know? So long as everybody's safe and well, I think that's all that matters."

She said she had received a lot of messages from worried friends and family back home, who assume Dubai has been locked down.

"People are still going about their normal lives," Shannon added. "Things haven't been closed down… but that's not necessarily being shown on the news.

"They're only seeing the worst parts, and people are terrified back home and don't understand maybe why we are going out to the shops or going out for dinner just to try and enjoy some normal life while we are relatively safe in comparison to other countries right now."

Roddy Graham is a deputy head teacher from the Borders. He and his partner Claire Long had gone to visit relatives in Australia with their 10-week-old son, Finn, and had been due to fly home on Saturday night.

He said: "We went to get our flight, which was at 22:30, and we arrived at the airport at 19:30, and literally two minutes after we arrived at the airport, our flight was cancelled and everything shut down. It's been really, really tricky to get in touch with people since."

Roddy added that they initially had trouble contacting their airline but managed to book another flight for Wednesday - though he is doubtful it will go ahead.

"I'm not confident at all," he said. "It's still going by Dubai, so the chances are looking very slim."

He added that the family have now booked an extra flight with a different airline as a back-up.

"It goes by Hong Kong and then London and then on to Glasgow — so it'll be a long 28-hour flight with a newborn child, which is not something that we'd planned for."