Emergency numbers in Arab countries: verified numbers and when to call

The most important numbers to save right now

Emergency numbers in the Arab world are not as unified as in Europe or North America, where a single number like 112 or 911 reaches all services everywhere. Across Arab countries, different services have different numbers, and these numbers vary from country to country. The table below lists verified numbers for the countries most frequently visited or lived in by this site's readers. Numbers listed here have been cross-checked against official government sources, embassy guidance, and national news agencies.

One critical point about ambulance response times across the region: in major cities such as Riyadh, Dubai, Amman, and Cairo, response times are often reasonable. In rural areas, smaller towns, conflict-affected zones, and countries with damaged infrastructure, an ambulance may not arrive quickly or at all. Knowing this in advance means having a plan: identify the nearest hospital with an emergency department to your home before you need it, not during a crisis.

For any cardiac arrest, severe bleeding, stroke, or unconsciousness, the fastest route to a hospital is often to put the patient in a private car while calling the emergency number simultaneously, rather than waiting for an ambulance that may be delayed. The exception is spinal injuries, where moving the patient without a stretcher carries its own risk.

Gulf countries: what to expect when you call

In Saudi Arabia, the Ministry of Interior unified general emergencies under 911 in 2017, while 997 remains the direct line to the Saudi Red Crescent Authority ambulance service and 998 reaches Civil Defence. Most callers dial 911 and are connected to the appropriate service from there. Operators in the major cities speak English and Arabic; in rural areas, Arabic is more reliable.

In the UAE, 999 reaches the police and the general emergency line, 998 connects to the ambulance service, and 997 connects to Civil Defence. These numbers are consistent across all seven emirates. The UAE has invested heavily in prehospital emergency care and response times in Dubai and Abu Dhabi are among the fastest in the region. From a mobile phone, 112 also works as a universal emergency line across the UAE.

Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman have all adopted 999 or 9999 as their unified emergency numbers connecting to all services. Oman uses 9999 as the national emergency number and response infrastructure is well developed in Muscat. In smaller cities and rural Oman, response times are longer.

Levant countries: ambulance coverage and what you should know

Jordan has unified its emergency services under 911 since 2014. Police, ambulance, and fire all operate through this number and operators are trained to dispatch the relevant service. The Jordan Civil Defence runs the ambulance service and coverage in Amman is reliable, though rural areas can face longer wait times.

In Lebanon, 140 is the toll-free number of the Lebanese Red Cross ambulance service, which is staffed by around 3,500 trained volunteers across 47 branches. This volunteer-based system is the main pre-hospital care provider across the country and has remained operational throughout periods of conflict and instability that would have disrupted a government-only service. Police emergency is 999 or 112. The Lebanese Civil Defence fire number is 175.

In Syria, the Ministry of Health launched a centralised ambulance command centre and unified the national ambulance line at 110. According to the Syrian Arab News Agency, 307 ambulances serve all governorates through this hotline. This service has been progressively rebuilt since 2015 and coverage now extends to all major population centres, though access in remote or conflict-adjacent areas may still be limited. Police emergency is 112 and fire is 113.

Iraq and Egypt: navigating the systems

In Iraq, the ambulance number is 122, which connects to the Ministry of Health ambulance service in Baghdad and other major governorates. Civil Defence, which handles fire and rescue, is reached at 115. The police emergency number is 104. Iraq also operates a general emergency line at 911 which can route calls to the appropriate service. Coverage and response capacity vary significantly between Baghdad, Erbil, and the Kurdistan Region, which has its own well-developed emergency infrastructure, and more remote governorates.

Egypt launched 112 as a unified emergency number in November 2022, consolidating previously separate lines. The specific direct lines remain active: 123 for ambulance, 122 for police, and 180 for fire. In practice, dialling 112 from any phone in Egypt connects the caller to a dispatcher who routes the call to the relevant service. Ambulance response in Cairo, Alexandria, and major cities is improving, though the size of Cairo means that a hospital emergency department may be faster in some areas.

North Africa: Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia

In Morocco, the emergency medical system operates through SAMU (Service d'Aide Medicale Urgente), reached at 15. Police emergency is reached at 19. These numbers are consistent across all major Moroccan cities. Ambulance coverage is strongest in Casablanca, Rabat, Marrakech, and Fes.

In Algeria, the civil protection service handles both fire and emergency medical response and is reached at 14. The SAMU medical emergency line is 16. Police is reached at 17 and gendarmerie at 1055. The general European emergency number 112 also connects to services in Algeria on mobile phones. Response infrastructure is strongest in Algiers and other major northern cities.

In Tunisia, the emergency medical service SAMU is reached at 190, police at 197, and civil protection and fire at 198. Tunisia has a reasonably well-developed SAMU network across its major regions. From mobile phones, 112 functions as an alternative general emergency line.

What to say when you call an ambulance

The first ten seconds of an emergency call determine how fast help arrives. Dispatchers need your address before anything else: a call can be traced to a rough area, but an address gets the vehicle moving toward the right street. State the address clearly and spell any unusual street name. If you are in a building, give the floor and apartment number.

After the address, give two pieces of information: the age of the patient and the chief complaint in a single sentence. Examples that work: a 58-year-old man with chest pain and difficulty breathing, or a 4-year-old child who has swallowed something and is choking. Do not spend time explaining the medical history during the first call. The dispatcher will ask if they need more detail.

Stay on the line until the dispatcher explicitly tells you to hang up. While you are on the phone, they can talk you through basic first aid if it is needed and can update the crew. If you cannot stay on the line, make sure someone else is at the location to meet the ambulance and guide them to the patient.

What counts as an emergency that needs an ambulance?

An ambulance should be called when the patient's life may be at risk and when moving them by private car could cause further harm or when their condition is deteriorating faster than a car journey allows. Situations where calling 911 or the local equivalent is the right choice include: suspected heart attack (chest pain, sweating, arm pain), stroke symptoms (one-sided weakness, speech difficulty, sudden severe headache), unconsciousness or unresponsiveness, severe difficulty breathing at rest, major trauma from a road accident or fall from height, heavy uncontrolled bleeding, suspected spinal injury, severe allergic reaction with throat swelling, and seizure lasting more than five minutes.

Many presentations do not need an ambulance but do need the emergency department: a painful but stable wound that needs stitching, a child with a fever who is alert and breathing normally, a broken bone where the limb is not pulseless or cold. In these cases, taking the patient by car is appropriate and often faster.

In some Arab countries, calling an ambulance for a non-life-threatening situation delays resources for people who need them critically. This is not an argument to avoid calling when genuinely uncertain: if you are in doubt, call. But if you know the situation is not immediately life-threatening, going directly to the hospital or an urgent care facility is usually faster and spares resources for more critical cases.

What to do while waiting for the ambulance to arrive

The minutes between calling the ambulance and its arrival are the most critical in a life-threatening situation. For cardiac arrest, where the heart has stopped and the patient is unresponsive and not breathing normally, begin chest compressions immediately if you know how. Push hard and fast in the centre of the chest, at least 100 times per minute, and do not stop until the ambulance crew takes over. If an automated external defibrillator (AED) is nearby, use it: many malls, airports, and public buildings in the Gulf now have them mounted on walls near elevators.

For a choking adult who is conscious, give up to five sharp back blows between the shoulder blades and then up to five abdominal thrusts (Heimlich manoeuvre). For a child over one year, use the same sequence with gentler force. For a choking infant under one year, alternate five back blows with five chest thrusts and do not use abdominal thrusts.

For heavy bleeding, apply firm direct pressure with the cleanest cloth available and do not remove it even if it soaks through. Add more material on top. For a suspected spinal injury after a fall or accident, do not move the patient at all unless there is an immediate threat to life such as fire or a building collapse. Moving a patient with a cervical spine injury without proper immobilisation can cause paralysis.

When ambulance response is not reliable: having a plan

In parts of Syria, Yemen, Sudan, and areas affected by conflict or damaged infrastructure, calling an ambulance may not produce a timely response. The advice in this situation is not to wait: identify the nearest functioning hospital with an emergency department before a crisis occurs. Know the route, know whether it is open at night, and if possible know whether it handles the kind of emergency most likely to affect someone in your household, whether that is trauma, a cardiac event, or a childbirth complication.

For people managing a chronic condition at high risk of acute events, such as diabetes with poor control, heart disease, or a history of seizures, the hospital identification step is not optional. Tell your family members or anyone who lives with you which hospital to go to and how to get there. A brief family agreement on this, made in a calm moment, can prevent a panicked and potentially fatal delay when a crisis occurs.

NGO and humanitarian medical organisations active in conflict-affected parts of the region, including Doctors Without Borders, the International Medical Corps, and the Syrian American Medical Society, often operate emergency and primary care facilities. Knowing the location of the nearest facility of this type is part of emergency preparedness in areas where government services are unreliable.

Emergency preparedness: what to keep at home

Knowing the emergency numbers is the starting point, not the whole plan. A functioning home preparation also includes a first-aid kit with at minimum clean bandages, antiseptic, a thermometer, a pocket mask for rescue breathing, and any prescription medicines needed urgently by household members. Keep prescription quantities sufficient to cover several days so a sudden delay in pharmacy access does not create a medical crisis.

Write the emergency numbers for your country and the address and phone number of your nearest hospital emergency department on a piece of paper and keep it on the refrigerator or another visible location. In a panic, people forget what they know. A written list removes that problem. Include on the same list the name and dose of any critical medicine taken by anyone in the household, since the ambulance crew will ask.

Children should know their home address by the time they start school. This is not an exaggeration: a child who can tell an emergency dispatcher their address has already done most of what is needed to get help to the right place. Practising this with young children as a calm factual exercise, not a frightening drill, is one of the most useful things a parent can do.

Sources

• UAE Government official portal: Handling emergencies. u.ae official services
• Syrian Arab News Agency: 307 ambulances serve emergency cases via Hotline 110 in Syria. SANA Health, 2025
• Lebanese Red Cross: Volunteer-based emergency medical services. International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
• Egyptian Streets: Egypt Announces its Very-Own 112 Hotline for Public Emergencies, 2022
• Farhat H, Alinier G, El Aifa K et al: Quality improvement tools to manage emergency callbacks from patients with diabetes in a prehospital setting, BMJ open quality, 2023
• Wikipedia contributors: List of emergency telephone numbers. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia