Qatar denies UAE claim of passenger jet interceptions
DUBAI — The United Arab Emirates has claimed that Qatari fighter jets intercepted two of its commercial airliners in international airspace on the way to Bahrain, allegations denied by Qatar.
Monday’s claims could further escalate tensions between Qatar and the four Arab nations that have been boycotting it for months, among them the UAE, home to the world’s busiest international airport in Dubai.
They also could affect long-haul airline travel, as the region’s carriers are a crucial link between the East and West.
“The state of Qatar announces that the claims of Qatari fighter planes intercepting a UAE civil aircraft (are) completely false,” Qatari Foreign Ministry’s spokeswoman Lulwa al-Khater said on Twitter on Monday.
Khater said Qatar planned to take legal action over the incidents.
However, the official Emirati news agency WAM quoted civil aviation director Saif al-Suwaidi as saying: “Bahraini radars have tracked the Qatari military planes while intercepting the Emirati civilian aircraft.
“The incident could also be seen by the naked eye by both the crew and passengers, which constitutes a clear threat to the lives of innocent civilians.”
The UAE condemned the Qatari action as “a serious and renewed breach of international conventions and the safety of civil aircraft traffic”.
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry also criticized Qatar, saying the action constitutes a threat to the safety of civil aviation and violates relevant international laws and conventions, according to the Saudi Press Agency.
On Tuesday, the UAE said it will lodge a complaint against Qatar at the United Nations aviation agency over the incident.
The General Civil Aviation Authority DirectorGeneral Saif Mohammed alSuwaidi said Qatar will be accused of violating the Chicago Convention in its complaint to the International Civil Aviation Organization.
The UAE’s Civil Aviation Authority did not say which airlines were involved, but Bahrain’s state news agency BNA said the first flight was from Emirates.
The airline is owned by
(The Qatari action is) a serious and renewed breach of international conventions and the safety of civil aircraft traffic.”
The United Arab Emirates the government of Dubai, one of seven emirates in the UAE federation. It gave no details of the second flight.
The UAE’s civil aviation authority informed its Qatari counterpart that a second Emirati commercial airliner was intercepted by Qatari fighter jets while it was on a “regular scheduled and well-known journey”.
Earlier in the day, the UAE reported another Emirates passenger plane was intercepted by Qatari military jets, branding the move a “flagrant and serious threat to the safety of civil aviation”.
Deepening crisis
The incidents came after Qatar filed two complaints on Friday and Sunday to the UN about the violation of its airspace in December and January by a UAE fighter jet.
On Sunday evening, Sheikh Abdullah Bin Ali al-Thani, one of the Qatari royal family members, accused the UAE of holding him against his will.
The UAE has denied both allegations.
A standoff has continued in the Gulf since early June, when the Saudi Arabia-led Arab quartet, which also includes the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt, severed diplomatic, trade and transport links with Qatar.
The quartet has accused Qatar of destabilizing the region by supporting terrorism and interfering in their domestic affairs. Qatar has denied all the charges.
No breakthrough has been achieved in the international efforts to resolve the crisis, despite the mediation by Kuwait, the United States, Turkey and European countries.