Tension gripped the Middle East after Israel and the United States launched a joint attack on Iran. The Israeli military said its strikes on Iran, carried out in coordination with the United States, targeted dozens of military sites and followed months of joint planning between the allies. According to reports, the Iranian army is targeting US military bases in the Middle East in its retaliatory strikes.

Blasts echoed over Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Doha and Manama, where plumes of smoke were seen pouring from the Juffair area which houses a major US naval base. One civilian died in Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates, after being struck by falling debris, according to the ministry of defence.

A series of explosions were heard and air raid sirens sounded over Jerusalem, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and Qatar on Saturday, AFP journalists reported. The military said earlier that it had identified a barrage of missiles launched from Iran. Abu Dhabi residents told AFP they heard loud explosions in the Emirati capital. Abu Dhabi is home to a base housing US personnel. Earlier the UAE said it had closed its airspace "temporarily and partially" as an exceptional precautionary measure.

Air India suspended flights to all destinations in the Middle East amid the ongoing war.

"In view of the developing situation in parts of the Middle East, all Air India flights to all destinations in the Middle East have been suspended," the airline said in a statement posted on X.

A centre for the US Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain has been hit in a "missile attack", Bahrain said on Saturday, as Iran vowed retaliation following US and Israeli strikes.

"The Fifth Fleet's service centre was subjected to a missile attack. We will provide you with details later," Bahrain's National Communication Centre said, in a statement.

In Bahrain’s Manama, AFP correspondents claimed that they heard loud explosions.

Iran on Saturday closed its airspace until further notice, following multiple blasts in the capital Tehran and elsewhere, the civil aviation agency said.

"The airspace of the entire country is cosed until further notice," announced the spokesman of Iran's Civil Aviation Organisation, quoted by Tasnim news agency.

Meanwhile, Iran's Revolutionary Guards on Saturday said a first wave of missile and drone attacks had been launched at Israel.

Warplanes and missiles were seen flying through Iraqi airspace as Israel and the United States launched strikes on Iran, witnesses and a military source told AFP. Iraq had announced earlier it was closing its airspace.

The military source said on condition of anonymity "our forces detected warplanes from the direction of Israel that crossed the airspace over Baghdad" and other provinces, adding that missiles were also seen flying over the northern province of Kirkuk.

"We saw several missiles flying at a low altitude" near the district of Daquq in Kirkuk, two witnesses said. A soldier in the city of Ramadi in western Iraq told AFP he saw warplanes flying overhead.

Resident Saman Zelwan, 20, told AFP he saw "more than 10 missiles flying over the Dokan district towards the Iranian border" in Sulaimaniyah province in the autonomous Kurdistan region.

As the tensions escalate, the Islamic republic's neighbours were fearful that strikes on the country could destabilise the entire region.

"If the United States strikes, Iran will retaliate and the crisis will spread throughout the region, with the Strait of Hormuz blocked and actions by its proxies," a diplomatic source from a country bordering Iran told AFP.

"The chaos in Iran would affect Turkey and the European Union, potentially leading to a massive influx of refugees," the source added.