Armed conflict and regional hostilities can affect UAE construction projects in ways that go well beyond ordinary delay events. Disruption may arise through sovereign sanctions regimes, export prohibitions, site access restrictions, airspace restrictions, supply chain breakdown, banking constraints, security risks, insurance withdrawal and severe cost escalation. The legal consequences of such disruption are not determined simply by the existence of crisis, but by how the event is characterised under the contract and under the mandatory provisions of UAE law.