The Algerian presidency has announced the closure of the country’s airspace for all Moroccan aircraft.
The move was announced following a meeting of the High Security Council chaired by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune.
A statement said the immediate closure affected “all civilian and military aircraft, as well as those registered in Morocco”.
The decision came “given the ongoing provocations and hostile practices on the Moroccan side,” he added.
There was no immediate reaction from Morocco.
A source at Royal Air Morocco (RAM) told the Reuters news agency that the move would affect only 15 weekly flights connecting Morocco with Tunisia, Turkey and Egypt.
The source, who asked to remain anonymous, described the impact on RAM as insignificant and said the respective flights could reconnect over the Mediterranean.
Algeria severed diplomatic ties with Morocco on August 24, accusing it of “hostile actions” after months of escalating tensions between the two North African countries.
Last month, the Algerian foreign ministry withdrew its ambassador to Morocco and hinted at possible further measures.
The move was linked to comments by Moroccan envoy to the United Nations Omar Hilal in Algeria’s Kabylie region, the ministry said after the envoy withdrew from the region in the decades-long dispute over Western Sahara claimed by Morocco and the Polisario-backed Front. from Algeria.
Hilal had called for a meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement for “the right of self-determination for the people living in the Kabylie region” regarding the Algerian minority.
He had suggested that Algeria should not deny this, while supporting self-determination for Western Saharan.
Morocco’s normalization of ties with Israel last year as a quo pro quo for US recognition of Moroccan sovereignty by Western Sahara also angered Algeria.
The land borders between Algeria and Morocco have been closed since the early 1990s for security reasons, exacerbating friction between Algeria and Rabat, whose relations have deteriorated due to the conflict.
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