'Did that really happen?' SA expats, missiles, shock and then surreal calm in Qatar

Debbie Derry was in her kitchen in Doha on Monday evening, carrying a plate of food, when the floor began to vibrate.

“Everything was shaking,” she said. “And I remember thinking, I’m sure they’re bombing us. Is this really happening?”

A Gqeberha journalist now living in Qatar, Debbie has spent the past three-and-a-half years immersed in the rhythms of expat life in Qatar — Friday church services, late evening walks – when the heat drops below 38°C – and a rare sense of safety she says South Africans instantly recognise as a luxury.

“Because we come from South Africa, we appreciate the safety here so much,” she said.

“I walk alone at night. I’ve never felt uncomfortable. I catch transport at night. This country has always been one of the safest places in the world — it’s even won awards for it.”

But on Monday night, that sense of safety was shaken when Iran launched a volley of ballistic missiles at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar — the largest American military installation in the Middle East — in retaliation for recent US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. Most missiles were intercepted by defence systems, but at least one is believed to have reached its target. No casualties or injuries were reported and airspace over Qatar was temporarily closed before reopening a few hours later.

Read more: Iran fires missiles at US airbase in Qatar; attack intercepted with no casualties, says Doha

Derry said the first signs of concern came via embassy alerts on social media.

“The American Embassy posted something about sheltering at home. I wasn’t sure what they meant at first,” she said.

“Then more posts started coming in — things like how much water you need per person in an emergency.”

That evening, while her husband Mark was attending a church council meeting about 30 minutes away, Debbie went for a walk. It was 37°C — cooler by Qatar standards — and she needed fresh air.

“When I got back, I was making supper, about to walk through with a plate of food, and everything was vibrating, and I thought, oh my word. I’m sure they’re bombing us. They’re bombing us. Is this really happening? You don’t think it’s going to happen. You think it’s out there … until it’s on your doorstep.”

At a church complex near Barwa Village, Mark and fellow council members heard the distant booms. “We were about an hour into the meeting … we heard six — how can I say — probably shockwaves or whatever you want to call them,” he said. “If you’re a South African and you grew up near a quarry, it might sound similar.”

Mark is the head of the Anglican Church in Qatar and archdeacon for the Gulf region. “We looked up at the night sky, and we saw… missiles taking out missiles above us. Once we saw interceptions happening above us, we decided to go back inside. It wasn’t safe to be outside, It felt like we’re in the middle of a war games exercise, you know, with real munitions being used,” he said. 

The group was instructed by police to return home – a 30-minute drive for Mark, but they didn’t leave immediately.

“We realised the roads might be busy with people going to and fro and we wanted to hear if there had been any direct hits because obviously they would block off roads and things, but by God’s grace, none of that happened.”

Mark said the drive home was pretty ordinary afterwards, something that was part of the “surreal experience”. 

By Tuesday, life in Qatar was almost back to normal. “I was out on the roads today and in the shopping centres today, and it seems like people have got on with what they were doing. There are a few shops that were closed and a few schools are closed today just as a precautionary measure, but other than that, it’s pretty calm.”

South Africans in Qatar say they’ve always felt safe, often more so than at home. “I don’t even lock my car or my front door,” said Vincent Mace, a Gqeberha native and IT specialist who has lived in Doha for nine years. “I lock my front door when my dog wants to try and open the door,” he joked. 

“In the morning, there were some posts going around from the American embassy about staying indoors,” he said. 

But it was his mom, an avid “flighter”, who tipped him off. “She likes to go on to flight radar, and she said no flights had come into Qatar for two hours, so then I knew something was going on. She follows all the wars, all the time. So she’s always got like the inside scoop for me at the beginning of everything,” Mace said.

Mace had just sat down with coffee when the first blast hit. His seven-year-old daughter was playing outside on her bike. “At first I thought it might be a truck passing,” he said. “But when the next one came, and the next, I ran out the front door, shouted for her to come in and hit the voice note button on our WhatsApp group.

“Guys, missiles coming down. Missiles coming down. Everybody get inside,” he warned members of the South Africans in Qatar community chat.

But, he said, being South Africans, most people didn’t listen. “I mean, South Africans, we never listened. We’ve got to go out and go see what’s happening.”

Mace helps run the Qatar Saffa Facebook and WhatsApp groups along with Johannesburg-born expat Brad Habana.

“Being South African and growing up in the latter part of apartheid, I’ve experienced the end part of it and have gone through things, but last night was completely different,” says Habana.

He described the surreal moment of seeing missiles intercepted in the sky as a first, while his three daughters, snuffled up with his wife in their villa, were beyond terrified at loud air explosions, he said. 

He said his mother-in-law, visiting from Cape Town, expressed gratitude for being in Qatar rather than South Africa, saying that had she not been there, she would have been stressing every single minute about her family’s safety.

Habana’s wife Danielle, who works for an American institution, gave him a heads-up in the early part of the afternoon that something was potentially going to happen. So they immediately sent their driver to their daughters’ school to get them to their villa. 

But despite Monday night’s shock, Habana said there was a sense of calm, “knowing what protection and safety Qatar provides on a daily basis”. He said the Qatari government was great at keeping people updated, and they ensured the citizens did not panic. 

During the incident, expat community chat groups buzzed with updates, questions and video clips. Some people went outside to film the sky; others stayed glued to Al Jazeera.

By early morning, Qatar’s airspace had reopened. 

Read more: How my Qatar Airways flight was diverted as missiles flew over Doha

“Life here went straight back to normal,” said Mace. “Schools were closed for the day, but by midday the teachers were sending photos from the marina, having a beer.”

He and Habana will resume their community group’s social events this week, including Bok Town, a South African-style rugby night. But the memory of Monday night lingers.

“There’s never been a moment where we haven’t felt safe here,” said Mace. “That night was a shock to everybody.”

Habana said family members were asking them to return to South Africa because of their “fear of the unknown”. 

“But I’m one of Brand South Africa’s global network brand ambassadors, and yeah, I’m probably the most patriotic expat you will ever find outside of SA borders. So I have a duty to continue flying our rainbow nation flag and I – and my family – still feel like Qatar is our second home away from home at this point”. DM