Evacuation plan as death toll rises in Middle East

Akrotiri was being deliberately targeted.

- 

Iranians gather in Tehran yesterday after Iranian state TV officially announced the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, shown in the poster held aloft

(Vahid Salemi/Associated Press)

John Healey said British civilians and military personnel were at risk from the Iranian regime and the “increasingly indiscriminate, widespread and uncontrolled” attacks.

RAF jets have been flying defensive patrols out of Qatar and RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus since the US and Israel launched their military strikes. One shot down an Iranian drone on Sunday.

Welsh mum Poppy Owen, a 34-year-old freelance creative marketing director, originally from Bangor, witnessed a missile being taken out in the skies above her home in Dubai, where she lives with husband Benjamin, 38, from Llandudno, an executive coach for CEOs and their two children aged 3 and 5.

She said they went into “panic mode”, putting the children to bed as they packed their bags “just in case we weren't safe at home.”

She added: “Everyone flooded to social media. But there has been lots of fake videos and AI videos that aren't real. So it's difficult to know what to believe and what not to believe. So we focussed on only relying on official government updates on social media

“There was also a loud bang around 12am which shook the whole house and woke up the children. 12:30am they then sent an emergency alert on the iPhones warning everyone to stay indoors and not to travel.”