UAE: Qatari jets intercepted 2 commercial flights

Story ‘totally false,’ Qatar says of planes bound for Bahrain.

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES The United Arab — Emirates on Monday claimed that Qatari fighter jets intercepted two of its commercial airliners in international airspace on the way to Bahrain, allegations denied by Qatar.

The 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. They also could affect long-haul airline travel, as the region’s carriers are a crucial link between the East and West.

It follows two complaints by Qatar to the United Nations about Emirati military aircraft allegedly violating its international airspace amid the diplomatic crisis. The UAE denies the allegations.

The UAE’s state-run WAM news agency made the claim about the Qatari jet fighters on Monday, citing the country’s General Civil Aviation Authority.

WAM quoted Saif al-Suwaidi, the director-general of the GCAA, as saying the intercepts happened at 10:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. He said Bahraini radar, as well as crew and passengers on board, saw the military aircraft, “which constituted a clear and explicit threat to the lives of innocent civilians.”

WAM did not identify the aircraft involved, nor did it elaborate on details of the purported encounters. The GCAA did not immediately respond to AP questions.

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry called the UAE’s allegations a “totally false claim” in a statement Monday night. “It seems that the UAE is trying to draw attention away from other incidents that have caused media crises,” it said.

That appeared to reference a video released Sunday night of Sheikh Abdullah bin Ali Al Thani, an exiled Qatari ruling family member once promoted by Saudi Arabia as an alternative to the country’s ruling emir, claiming he’s being held against his will in the UAE, an allegation denied by Abu Dhabi.

The UAE is home to two major national carriers, Abu Dhabi-based Etihad and Dubai-based Emirates. Both airlines declined to comment when reached by the AP, though Bahrain’s Foreign Ministry identified one of the affected aircraft as Emirates flight No. EK837.

That flight was scheduled to depart Dubai at 8:20 a.m. Monday, but pushed off nearly an hour late. It flew out over international waters near the northern tip of Qatar, a peninsular nation that juts out like a thumb into the Persian Gulf, before arriving in the island nation of Bahrain 46 minutes after takeoff. That’s been the standard route of all Emirati commercial airliners since the crisis began.

FlightRadar24, an airplane tracking website, did not show any unusual routes between the UAE and Bahrain.