Gargash: Qatar’s complaint on UAE airspace violation incorrect, confused

The UAE’s foreign minister Anwar Gargash criticized Qatar’s complaint to the United Nations and Security council about airspace violations by the UAE.

In a Tweet on his official page, Gargash said, “The Qatari complaint about the UAE's violation of its airspace is incorrect and confused, and we are working on responding to it officially with evidence.”

“What is happening here is an unwarranted escalation attempt. What was happening under the table is now surfacing,” he added.

The Qatar News Agency said that Qatar filed a complaint to the United Nations stating that a warplane from the UAE penetrated its airspace in December 2017, according to Reuters.

The Qatari foreign ministry said on its Twitter account that it informed the UN secretary general and the president of the Security Council that the UAE jet "flew over the exclusive economic zone of Qatar" for one minute.

The ministry said "that the UAE plane entered the airspace of the State of Qatar without prior knowledge or approval of the competent Qatari authorities."

The Qatar News Agency’s report said that Sheikha Alia Ahmad bin Saif Al Thani, the permanent representative of Qatar to the United Nations, sent two identical letters to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and the head of the Security Council. In her letters she said that the incident took place at 9:45am on December 21, 2017, and lasted for one minute.

-With Reuters