Lifting of flight restrictions unrelated to Israel ties: Saudi minister

JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia’s decision this week to lift restrictions on all carriers using its airspace is not a sign of any push towards future ties with Israel, the kingdom’s foreign minister said Saturday.

“This has nothing to do with diplomatic ties with Israel,” Prince Faisal bin Farhan told a news conference, adding, “It’s not in any way a precursor to any further steps.”

He said that he was not aware of any discussions on a GCC-israeli defence alliance and kingdom is not involved in any such discussions.

He told reporters after the US-Arab summit that Riyadh’s decision to open its airspace to all air carriers had nothing to do with establishing diplomatic ties with Israel and was not a precursor to further steps.