UAE files complaint over Qatari flight ‘interceptions’

ABU DHABI: The UAE on Monday lodged a complaint with the International Civil Aviation Organization after it said Qatari jets approached civilian flights last week, official media said.
The United Arab Emirates is among four Arab states that cut ties with Qatar in June, accusing Doha of ties to Islamists and Shiite Iran. Qatar denies the allegations.
A civil aviation dispute between the two Gulf states erupted earlier this year, with the UAE also filing a complaint with the ICAO in January.
Saif Mohammed Al-Suwaidi, director of the UAE’s general civil aviation authority, said Abu Dhabi had filed another complaint on Monday over what it said was the interceptions of a passenger flight and civilian helicopter over Bahrain last Monday.
Suwaidi called the interceptions “deliberate violations of international convenants” and “a threat to civil aviation,” state news agency WAM reported.
Doha has denied approaching the flights.
Under the cut in ties and boycott by the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt, Qatar is banned from using its rivals’ airspace.