UAE says Qatar military jets intercept civil planes
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E-mail Xinhua, January 16, 2018
Qatari military jets on Monday intercepted a civil passenger aircraft from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) which was on the way to land at Al Bahrain International Airport in Manama, the capital of Bahrain, the official Emirati news agency WAM reported.
The UAE's civil aviation authority GCCA has informed its Qatari counterpart entity that a second Emirati commercial airliner was intercepted by Qatari fighter jets while the aircraft was on a "regular scheduled and well-known journey."
The UAE authority added that it regards this incident "as a serious and renewed breach of international conventions and the safety of civil aircraft traffic."
Earlier in day, a first Emirates passenger flight was intercepted by Qatari military jets, said the UAE, which called the action a "flagrant and serious threat to the safety of civil aviation," according to WAM.
The flight operated by Emirates was a regular scheduled service which took off Monday morning from its home airport Dubai to Manama, the capital of Bahrain, according to Sky News Arabia in Abu Dhabi.
GCCA stressed that "the UAE rejects this threat to the safety of air traffic and will take all necessary legal measures to ensure the safety and security of civil aviation."
Emirates is the Dubai government controlled, international carrier of the UAE.
The incident happened days after Qatar filed complaint to the United Nations about a UAE military jet's alleged violation of its airspace last December.
The complaint is refused by the UAE as "incorrect and confusing," and it added that UAE authorities were working to respond to it officially with evidence.
The UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt have cut diplomatic ties with Qatar in June 2017, accusing Doha of supporting "extremism and terrorism."
They also blamed Qatar, a major natural gas supplier, of aligning with non-Arab Gulf state Iran against Arab interests.
The Arab quartet also imposed transport and trade sanctions by air, land and sea. Qatar has denied the charges and upgraded trade with Iran and Turkey since then to mitigate the impact of the sanctions.
As a result of these events, Gulf Arab stocks markets plummeted on Monday, while the price of oil (Brent) remained stable below 70 dollars per barrel.
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