'Flights to Doha by non-Qatari airlines allowed'

The governments of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates clarified on Tuesday that the closure of their airspace only applied to Qatari commercial airlines, so flights to Doha for carriers from other countries were allowed.

Airlines from other countries and private flights are to be permitted to cross their airspace if they request for a permission 24 hours in advance and can provide a list with the names and nationalities of the crew and passengers, reports Efe news.

However, in their statements, the three countries warned that they reserved the sovereign right to take precautionary measures to protect their national security if they deemed it necessary, citing a UN Security Council resolution that warned that civil aviation could be used as a means of transporting terrorists.

On June 5, these three countries, in addition to Egypt, broke diplomatic relations with Qatar and implemented a series of economic reprisals after claiming that Doha funds terrorist groups.

More Arab and Muslim-majority African countries later joined the diplomatic blockade, even as several powers have called for resolving the crisis.

--IANS

ksk/dg