Kuwait denies Israeli jet used its airspace

Kuwait City: Kuwaiti civil aviation authorities have denied claims that an Israeli passenger plane had used the country’s airspace.

Online reports alleged that a plane operated by the Israeli airline El Al on a flight from Thailand had flown through the Kuwaiti airspace.

“The pictures circulated on social media are untrue,” a source at Kuwait’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation told the Kuwaiti newspaper Al Qabas.

“Israeli flights take off from the airports of the occupation state [Israel] over the Red Sea and reach its far south, then heading towards India and other Asian countries such as Thailand,” the unnamed source added.

“Kuwaiti air control towers operate round the clock, tracking flights coming or leaving Kuwait and those passing through its airspace. The passage in the airspace is registered beforehand through requests made by airlines at the departure sites,” the source explained.

“Accordingly, a request either from the occupation state or any other airport cannot be accepted because the notice includes the name of the airline, the type of the flight and other details.”

Kuwait does not have diplomatic links with Israel.

Anti-Israeli sentiment runs high in Kuwait and other Arab countries over Israel’s practices mainly against Palestinians