DUBAI: Dubai authorities have begun telling owners of high-rise buildings across the emirate to make the facades more resistant to fire, the government said on Saturday, after a string of skyscraper blazes.
The government did not specify how it would ensure that owners complied with the policy, which could be costly, or reveal how many buildings might be affected in the fast-growing city, home to hundreds of high-rise towers, including the world’s tallest skyscraper.
But it said it had already implemented the policy with a number of companies, including Dubai Properties Group, which is the investment vehicle of the emirate’s ruler and operates skyscrapers in Dubai’s business district.
The government’s Real Estate Regulatory Agency “is now strongly encouraging all owners to replace non-fire-resistant building facades in collaboration with the city’s real estate developers,” an official statement said.
Eyewitness reports and investigations have suggested that cladding fixed to the outside of buildings for decoration, insulation or protection may have contributed to the spread of many fires in Dubai over the last three years.
GRENFELL
Global concern about cladding grew after London’s Grenfell Tower fire in June, which killed about 80 people. A public inquiry into the blaze is underway following initial reports that it spread throughout the residential tower because of flammable cladding used as insulation.
The United Arab Emirates, of which Dubai is a member, revised its building safety code in 2013 to require that cladding on all new buildings over 15 meters (50 feet) tall be fire-resistant.
But the new rules did not apply to buildings erected before that year, so the vast majority of the country’s skyscrapers fell outside the regulations.
Among Dubai’s skyscraper fires, a blaze hit the 337-meter, 79-story Torch residential building last month, forcing hundreds of occupants to flee. It was the second fire at the building since 2015.
In August 2016, a fire damaged part of a tall building under construction in Dubai and in July 2016, a blaze broke out in Dubai’s residential, 75-story Sulafa Tower. On the last day of 2015, a fire engulfed a 63-story Dubai luxury hotel, forcing its closure for over a year.
Dubai says skyscraper facades being replaced after series of fires
Dubai says skyscraper facades being replaced after series of fires
Israel army says striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon
- More than 340 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon since the ceasefire, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry reports
JERUSALEM: The Israeli military announced a series of strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon on Friday, including weapons depots and a training complex.
“A number of weapons storage facilities and terrorist infrastructure sites were struck, which were used by Hezbollah to advance terror attacks against the state of Israel,” a military statement said.
Despite a November 2024 ceasefire that was supposed to end more than a year of hostilities between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah group, Israel has continued to strike in Lebanon and has maintained troops in five areas it deems strategic.
More than 340 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon since the ceasefire, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry reports.
The strikes on Friday come a day after similar Israeli attacks near the Syrian border and in southern Lebanon left three people dead.
The Israeli military had reported on Thursday it had killed a member of arch-foe Iran’s elite Quds Force in a strike in Lebanon.
On Friday, the military said it had struck several military structures of Hezbollah, warning it would “remove any threat posed to the state of Israel.”
Under heavy US pressure and fears of expanded Israeli strikes, Lebanon has committed to disarming Hezbollah, starting in the south of the country near the frontier.
Lebanon’s army plans to complete the disarmament south of the Litani River — about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the border with Israel — by year’s end.
Israel has questioned the Lebanese military’s effectiveness and has accused Hezbollah of rearming, while the group itself has rejected calls to surrender its weapons.
