‘I’ll do my job or someone else will take it’: Why many Asians are staying put in the Gulf amid war
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Smoke rising after an Iranian drone was intercepted over the Bahrain Financial Harbour towers, which house the Israeli embassy, on March 6.
PHOTO: REUTERS
- Millions of Asian migrant workers in the Gulf are trapped amid escalating US, Israeli, and Iranian hostilities, resulting in casualties and widespread anxiety.
- Many migrants are hesitant to leave due to job security despite some making distress calls asking Asian governments to consider repatriation efforts.
- The conflict threatens remittances, a critical source of income for countries like Bangladesh, while airlines resume limited services with increased fares.
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BENGALURU/NEW DELHI/JAKARTA/MANILA – Millions of Asians working in the Gulf region are trapped amid the drone and missile strikes
Many say they are feeling safe but are anxious about the increasing hostilities, but others who want to leave are hesitant about losing their jobs, which allow these workers to collectively remit billions of dollars to their countries.
Over 24 million people from South and South-east Asian countries work in and around the Gulf region, as medical professionals, accountants, engineers, construction workers, housekeepers and security guards.
Hailing from Indonesia, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India, they have found themselves caught in the cross hairs of Iran’s retaliation against the US-Israeli strikes, which have killed the Islamic republic’s supreme leader and other top leaders.
These Asians work not only in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf – Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) – but also in Israel, Iran and Lebanon.
Government authorities across Asia are receiving distress calls from thousands of their citizens seeking repatriation. Still, most migrants are reportedly staying put, sheltering in basements and continuing to go to work so they do not lose their jobs.
One of them was Ms Mary Anne Velasquez de Vera, a Filipino carer who was struck by shrapnel and killed while helping her ward reach a bomb shelter in Tel Aviv, Israel.
The Philippines has more than 2.4 million workers across the Middle East, particularly in the Gulf states, doing work ranging from domestic service and construction to healthcare and hospitality.
The authorities in the Philippines have begun coordinating with embassies in the region to bring home migrant workers in the line of fire. The Department of Migrant Workers said on March 5 that 299 Filipinos affected by the crisis had safely returned to Manila from Dubai, where many had sought temporary refuge.
The returnees were provided with financial assistance, accommodation, medical care and psychosocial support as ordered by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
To stay or leave?
For many Filipinos still in the region, however, anxiety mounts as they weigh whether to stay or seek repatriation.
Ms Anna Santos, 43, a Filipino domestic worker in Abu Dhabi who asked to use an alias for safety reasons, told The Straits Times she had been trying to reach the Philippine authorities for assistance as the conflict escalated.
“I want to go back home. I have three children, and I’m very scared the conflict will worsen. I can see drones and missiles passing by from the windows here,” Ms Santos said.
The Philippine government has publicised hotlines and e-mail addresses that distressed Filipinos in the Middle East can contact if they wish to be repatriated. But this has not assuaged her worries.
“I’m also not sure if my bosses would even allow me to leave,” she said.
Sleeping in the carpark
Mr Bibin Lal, 47, a plumber in Bahrain’s Manama city who hails from the south Indian state of Kerala in India, has been sleeping for a week in the basement carpark of the eight-storey block of flats he manages, along with residents who shelter there at night.
Located near the port and some US military installations that are reportedly Tehran’s targets, the residential building “shivers whenever some bomb explodes nearby”, said Mr Lal.
Having worked in various countries in the Gulf for 25 years and in Bahrain for six, he said that a war is the “most unexpected” of difficulties he has encountered. But even as the expatriate families in his building are clearing out, Mr Lal is going nowhere.
“My family back home is watching the news and panicking. They keep calling me to return home. Initially, I was scared and felt like going home. But now I am fine. I’ll do my job or someone else will take it,” he told ST.
Mrs Rhea Abraham, 37, a security researcher also from Kerala, who lives in Bahrain with her family, said the Bahrain government has directed all residents to shelter in designated schools and malls, or in the basements of their own buildings, and stay away from glass windows.
“The Gulf countries are not built for wars – they’re marketed as being the safest in the world. So even now, when they designate shelters, they’re not near our homes, like in Israel or Lebanon. The bomb shelter for me is 15 minutes away by car, which is not practical,” she said.
“Unlike nationals, who live in houses on the outskirts, most of us expats live in apartment buildings within the city limits. We are right in the middle of the action and have nowhere to hide. Construction labour and domestic workers on daily wages, meanwhile, live in cramped housing. All they can do is run far away from the point of attack when it happens,” she added.
The largest number of Indian nationals overseas – nearly nine million – is in the Middle East. The Gulf region is also the most popular destination for travellers from India.
Around 12,000 Indian citizens stranded in the Gulf countries, a majority in the UAE, have sought the help of the Indian government for their return.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on X that his Cabinet has directed all departments to “take necessary and feasible measures to assist Indian nationals affected by the development”.
Mr Asad Farhan Ahmed, 44, a marketing professional from Bengaluru, was stuck in Abu Dhabi for a work meeting just as the strikes began. His return flight was cancelled.
He was getting shawarma with his cousin at a restaurant to break his Ramadan fast on Feb 28 when his phone emitted a loud siren and flashed this warning message: “Due to current situation, a potential missile threat, seek immediate shelter in the closest secure building, and steer away from windows, doors and open areas.”
After a few tense days trying to fly out, Mr Ahmed managed to buy a ticket for 35,000 rupees (S$490) for an Air India flight that had special permission to fly from Dubai to Mumbai on March 4.
Several airlines have now resumed limited services out of the region, subject to airspace and operational clearances. But airfares have skyrocketed, making it unthinkable for domestic workers or lowly paid migrant workers to afford these tickets.
‘Being afraid doesn’t help’
Ms Eni Yuliana, 47, a domestic worker from Indonesia in Abu Dhabi, said she had been hearing the sounds of explosions since March 1.
“At first I thought it was a car backfiring, but then my boss told me it was a bomb,” she said.
Ms Eni, who has worked for an Indonesian family in Abu Dhabi for 13 years, said that authorities have cautioned office workers and students to stay home.
“The street outside the house is very empty now, almost like during Covid,” she said.
She said she went through something similar in June 2025, when the UAE closed its airspace following Iranian missile strikes on Qatar
Iran launched missiles at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar – the largest US military base in the Middle East – in retaliation for the US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities
The current situation, however, feels more “intense”, she said.
“Right now I’m just working as usual,” she said. “Being afraid doesn’t help anything.”
According to data from Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry, 519,042 Indonesians resided in the Middle East as at Feb 28, not including travellers passing through the region.
On March 1, the ministry urged Indonesian citizens in the region to be vigilant and to keep in contact with the nearest Indonesian mission. It also urged Indonesians planning to travel to the Gulf to reconsider their plans.
On March 4, the Indonesian Embassy in Tehran announced that it would carry out a “phased evacuation” for all Indonesian citizens in Iran, though the embassy itself would continue normal operations. As at the time of writing, no other Indonesian mission in the region has announced evacuation plans.
Indonesian migrant labour advocacy group Migrant Care has also set up an emergency hotline for migrant workers who may need assistance amid the uncertainty caused by the ongoing conflict.
Indonesian migrant workers who spoke to The Straits Times, however, seemed calm.
Mr Nuril Yuda Pratama, 28, who works in housekeeping at a hotel in Doha, the capital city of Qatar, said the Qatari government had sent an alert to stay indoors on the morning of Feb 28.
“They also asked us to stay away from the area where the US airbase is,” he said, adding that his workplace and residence were relatively far from the area.
Rather than being afraid of the missiles, Mr Yuda said his fellow migrant workers would run out to take videos when they heard the missiles go past.
“They look like fireworks, so it’s almost like watching a show,” he said.
Not all migrants can claim to feel as unperturbed.
Bangladeshi national Anwar Hossain, 45, was startled awake early on the morning of March 2 by the sounds of Israeli bombs raining on Nabatieh, a city in southern Lebanon close to the border with Israel.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah had earlier launched a rocket-and-drone attack on Israel
The house caretaker and driver for an Arab family fled immediately with his employers to Saida, Lebanon’s third-largest city, about 35km north. That short distance took them over four hours as thousands of people fleeing in their vehicles clogged the route.
Currently staying with his nephew, Mr Hossain risks being caught in the crossfire even in Saida, which was struck by Israel on March 4.
An estimated 100,000 Bangladeshis live and work in Lebanon. Mr Hossain said many Bangladeshi migrants are still trapped in Nabatieh.
Remittances affected
The expanding conflict in the Middle East could have a deep impact on Bangladesh’s economy. Around seven million to eight million Bangladeshis live in the six Gulf countries, sending home around US$15 billion (S$19.2 billion) to US$17 billion each year, which amounts to half of the country’s annual remittance inflows.
The Bangladesh Foreign Ministry confirmed that two Bangladeshis – Mr Saleh Ahmed, a truck driver in Ajman in the UAE, and Mr S.M. Tareq, a worker in the Salman industrial area of Bahrain – were killed by the debris of intercepted missiles.
Amid the war, Mr Hossain’s chief concern is whether his employer will pay his US$600 monthly salary. The situation gave an unpleasant feeling of deja vu – he had sheltered in Saida for two months in 2024 amid Israel’s prolonged strikes on Lebanon. Mr Hossain was paid his wages that time.
After living in Lebanon for over 20 years, Mr Hossain is beginning to consider returning home to Bangladesh’s Noakhali district for good. He is worried about his wife and three children back home.
“This conflict worries me now, and I am not getting any younger.”
