Qatar has reopened its airspace after closing it earlier on Monday in anticipation of retaliatory attacks by Iran on a US air base near Doha.
Iran launched missiles at al-Udeid air base on Monday evening. Both Qatari and US officials said nearly all were intercepted with no casualties or injuries.
Prior to Iran’s attack, the US embassy in Qatar had urged American citizens to shelter-in-place “out of an abundance of caution”. That order has since been lifted, with the embassy saying operations will resume as normal on Tuesday.
Monday’s attack by Tehran comes two days after the US launched massive strikes against three nuclear facilities inside Iran.
Shortly after midnight on Tuesday local time, Qatari officials announced that air travel in the country could resume as normal.
Earlier on Monday, Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it was closing its airspace to ensure the safety of residents and visitors, without offering further details.
Around the same time, the US embassy in Qatar suggested in a notice online that Americans should shelter in place “until further notice”. The UK government issued a similar warning to its citizens in Qatar, saying it was doing so in response to the US alert.
The warnings came ahead of a missile attack by Iran on al-Udeid Air Base, which serves as the headquarters for US Central Command’s air operations in the Middle East and hosts nearly 8,000 US troops, according to the State Department.
Iran said the attacks were meant to send a “clear and explicit” message to the US, and that it “will not leave any attack on its territorial integrity, sovereignty and national security unanswered”.
In response, Qatar said it “strongly condemns” the strike.
It added that the attack was “successfully thwarted” by Qatari air defence systems.
US President Donald Trump called Iran’s response “very weak” and thanked Iranian officials for giving the Americans “early notice” of their attack.
Hours later, he announced Iran and Israel had come to a ceasefire deal that could bring an end to the war.
Both countries have yet to confirm a ceasefire has been reached.
Trump said the agreement was a “total and complete” ceasefire and dubbed the conflict the “12 Day War”.
“This is a war that could have gone on for years, and destroyed the entire Middle East, but it didn’t, and never will!” Trump said in a social media post.
Earlier, other countries in the region, including Bahrain and Kuwait, had temporarily closed their airspaces out of precaution.
The US has about 40,000 troops stationed in the Middle East.
Flight tracking websites showed planes diverting to other airports following the closure of Qatari airspace, including one from London bound for Doha that was diverted back to Heathrow airport.
Hamad International Airport is one of the world’s top 10 busiest airports on international traffic with around 140,000 passengers passing through per day.
Bilateral relations between the US and Qatar are “strong”, according to the State Department, which says Qatar has helped play a financial, political and military role in dealing with turmoil in the region.
BBC
