Yesterday two Qatari fighter planes flew dangerously close to two civilian planes from the United Arab Emirates while in Bahrain's airspace. This was reported by the United Arab Emirates State Press Agency, WAM.
WAM said the General Civil Aviation Authority condemned the "provocative action", which followed two similar incidents that had been reported by the UAE to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) , the United Nations aviation agency.
The United Arab Emirates, along with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt, imposed travel, diplomatic and trade sanctions on Qatar last June, accusing it of supporting Iran and Islamic extremists. Qatar denied the allegation and accused the four countries of trying to manipulate information to endorse their foreign policy positions.
Qatar in June 2017 asked ICAO to intervene after neighboring Gulf countries closed their airspace to Qatar flights, as part of the sanctions.
The Bahraini Civil Aviation Authority confirmed an accident had occurred, saying two Qatari fighter jets flew under a United Arab Emirates Airbus 320 en route from the Emirate of Fujairah to Rome, forcing the planes of the United Arab Emirates to fly at a higher altitude.
He did not mention, however, an incident involving a second plane of the United Arab Emirates. The involved airline has not been specified.
The Bahraini agency said in a statement released by the state-owned BNA news agency that the Qatari jets entered Bahrain-operated airspace without authorization, and that the necessary steps had been taken to file a complaint with ICAO.
The officials of Qatar declined to comment.
While the United Arab Emirates have banned Qatar's airplanes from using their airspace as part of the restrictions, Qatar has not implemented restrictions on its airspace to the carriers coming and going to the Gulf countries.