JERUSALEM (AP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was prevented from flying to the United Arab Emirates through Saudi Arabian airspace last week due to the threat of missile fire from Iranian representatives in Yemen.
Netanyahu, whose comments were made on Saturday, canceled a visit to the Emirates last week because of a fight with neighboring Jordan, which had temporarily closed its airspace for the Israeli prime minister’s flight.
But instead of bypassing Jordanian airspace and following a route further south through Saudi skies, Netanyahu told Israel’s Channel 13 “there were also problems in Saudi Arabia’s skies a week ago”, referring to the recent missile attacks by hutile rebels in Yemen.
Netanyahu gave no further details, nor did he say his plane was targeted by Iran-backed Houthis.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who control the capital and much of the north of the country, have escalated their cross-border attacks on critical Saudi infrastructure in recent weeks, launching bomb and missile-loaded drones against the Kingdom’s Patriot missile batteries and revealing gaps in the country’s defenses.
Last week, missiles and drones hit one of the largest oil transport ports in the world and disrupted air traffic to the international airport in the port city of Jiddah. Although the alleged attacks by Houthi in Saudi Arabia rarely cause substantial damage, these attacks have clouded the world economy and increased the risk of an interruption in the global oil supply.
Netanyahu was due to make the first official visit by an Israeli leader to the United Arab Emirates, half a year after the countries established formal relations. He hoped to use the audience with the Crown Prince of the United Arab Emirates to boost his re-election campaign less than two weeks before the March 23 parliamentary elections in Israel.
The prime minister’s office said it had difficulties coordinating the flight over Jordanian airspace after the Crown Prince of Jordan canceled a visit to the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, a sensitive holy place in Jordanian custody, due to disagreements over measures of security.
The Prime Minister insisted that relations between the two countries were positive, adding that “Jordan needs good relations with us, no less than we need good relations with Jordan”.