Algeria has announced a ban on Emirati-registered civilian and military aircraft after cutting diplomatic ties with the United Arab Emirates. The move follows years of growing tensions between the two countries. Algiers accused the UAE of “provocative and hostile acts”, though it did not specify the immediate trigger behind the diplomatic rupture.

The Algerian Defence Ministry said the airspace ban will take effect on Friday. Commercial flights to and from Algiers airport will remain exempt from the restrictions until the end of 2026. Algeria has also given the UAE ambassador 48 hours to comply with the decision.

Algiers said it took the step after exhausting efforts to protect bilateral relations. The Algerian Foreign Ministry said it had repeatedly warned Abu Dhabi about its conduct. It accused the UAE of continuing its actions until they reached a point that Algeria could no longer accept or tolerate. “Algeria spared no effort to draw the Emirati side's attention to, and to warn it against, the dire consequences that could result from its regrettable and unjustified conduct,” the ministry said.

The UAE Foreign Ministry said it hoped the decision would be temporary. It expressed a desire to preserve “fraternal ties” with Algeria. The diplomatic break comes after Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune repeatedly criticised the UAE in recent months. Tebboune has described the UAE as a “micro-state” or “statelet” seeking to destabilise countries including Libya, Mali and Sudan.

In a televised interview in July, Tebboune again criticised Abu Dhabi, saying “wherever they set foot, blood flows. We want them to stay away, so that blood does not flow in our country,” he added. Tebboune also said a diplomatic break “would have happened long ago” if Algeria had not tried to prevent deeper divisions in the Arab world.

The two countries have faced several disagreements over developments across North Africa and the Sahel. Geoff Porter, an analyst with North Africa Risk Consulting, said Algeria had been “striving to maintain some semblance of stability”, while “the UAE was working directly counter to that”. He said Algeria viewed Emirati involvement in North African and Sahelian affairs as a challenge to its foreign policy and an indirect security threat.

Porter pointed to the UAE’s support for eastern Libya military commander Khalifa Haftar, its backing of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces and a drone base in neighbouring Mauritania as key areas of concern for Algeria.

Relations also deteriorated after UAE-based Sky News Arabia aired an interview with Algerian historian Mohamed Amine Belghit last year. Algerian state television called it part of a hostile media campaign after Belghit made controversial remarks questioning the existence of Algeria’s indigenous Amazigh culture. Algerian authorities jailed him, though Tebboune later pardoned him.

The two sides have also differed over wider diplomatic policies, including the UAE’s decision to normalise relations with Israel in 2020.