UAE will complain to UN body over Qatar war planes

The United Arab Emirates will lodge a complaint against Qatar at the United Nations’ aviation agency on Tuesday after Qatari war planes allegedly intercepted UAE civilian aircraft, a UAE official said.

The UAE said on Monday that Qatari air force jets had intercepted two UAE civilian aircraft on routine commercial flights to Bahrain. Qatar has denied the claims.

The UAE will accuse Qatar of violating the Chicago Convention, which governs the use of airspace, in a complaint to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), UAE General Civil Aviation Authority Director-General Saif Mohammed al-Suwaidi told Reuters.

Suwaidi said two Qatari war planes twice flew dangerously close to the UAE airliners as they descended toward Bahrain International Airport in separate incidents on Monday, and could be seen by the pilots and passengers.

“It’s a very obvious violation,” he said by phone.

The UAE, along with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt, has imposed travel, diplomatic and trade sanctions on Qatar since last June, accusing it of supporting terrorism.

Source: Alarabiya