The United Arab Emirates on Monday accused Qatari fighter jets of intercepting one of its civilian aircraft during a routine flight to the Bahrain capital city of Manama, Reuters reported.
The UAE civil aviation authority said it was a flagrant threat to the safety of civil aviation, and promised to take “all necessary legal measures to ensure the safety and security of civil air traffic”.
Qatar denied the allegation, and said the UAE’s statement was “completely false”.
On January 13, Qatar, in a complaint to the United Nations Security Council, accused UAE fighter jets of violating its airspace on at least two occasions in the past few weeks, Al Jazeera reported.
Qatar’s UN envoy Alya bint Ahmed Al Thani said Doha would take all necessary measures required to defend its borders, airspace and national security in order to preserve its legitimate sovereign right in accordance with international laws.
The UAE and other countries, including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt, had imposed travel, diplomatic and trade sanctions on Qatar in June 2017, accusing Doha of supporting terrorism.
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