UAE says Qatari fighter jets twice intercepted passenger flights on Monday

The UAE on Monday said Qatari fighter jets had twice intercepted civilian passenger planes en route to Bahrain in a “clear violation of international law.”
In the first incident the UAE General Authority of Civil Aviation  (GCAA) received a message from one of the UAE’s national carriers on Monday morning that one of its aircraft on a flight to Manama on a normal route had been intercepted by Qatari fighters.
The second incident also involved a civilian aircraft during a flight to Bahrain International Airport on a regular scheduled and well-known journey. But the WAM report did not name the airline involved or give further details of the incident.
The report added that the flight was a “regular, scheduled service, on a known flight-path that met all the required and internationally recognized approvals and permits.”
“Qatari fighter jets intercepted an Emirati civilian aircraft during a routine flight to Manama in a flagrant threat to civil aviation safety and in a clear violation of international law,” the GCAA said in a statement published by the state news agency WAM. Arab News tried contacting the GCAA but received no response as well as the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority but also did not get a response.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bahrain said in a statement on its website that it strongly condemned the Qatar fighter aircraft intercepting a civilian aircraft from the UAE during its normal flight this morning. The statement said: "It is a clear violation of the relevant international conventions and laws, in particular those of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the provisions of the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation and its amendments of 1944.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs affirms that this rejected hostile behavior by Qatar against civil aircrafts has become frequent in recent times and jeopardizes the safety of civil aviation and poses a threat to the lives of civilians.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stresses the Kingdom of Bahrain's full support for the UAE and its backing for all of its measures to maintain its security and stability, to stop these violations and to repel these breaches by the State of Qatar."
But a Qatari foreign ministry official later denied the claim according to news reports.
And Sheikh Saif Bin Ahmed Al-Thani, the director of Qatar’s government communications office, said on his official Twitter account that the charge was “completely untrue.”
On Friday, Qatar filed a complaint with the United Nations about an alleged violation of its airspace in December by an Emirati military aircraft.
Qatari authorities said the violation on Dec. 21, which the UAE denied, lasted one minute.
The UAE is home to two major national carriers, Abu Dhabi-based Etihad and Dubai-based Emirates. But the Associated Press said that both airlines declined to comment.
US Air Force Central Command, which is based at the sprawling Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar, also did not immediately have any report about any incident involving a commercial aircraft in the region, said Lt. Col. Damien Pickart, an Air Force spokesman – adding that the US did not routinely monitor flights and operations of the Qatari airforce.
The Qatar crisis began June 5 with Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE cutting off Doha's land, sea and air routes over its alleged support of extremists and close ties with Iran. Qatar has long denied funding extremists. It recently restored full diplomatic relations with Iran.

Source: arabnews