Saudi Arabia Broadcasts Animation of Fighter Jet Shooting Qatari Passenger Plane

The diplomatic crisis between Qatar and neighboring Gulf states took an ominous turn this week, as Saudi Arabia began circulating a video that it explains it could legally shoot down Qatari passenger planes that violate its airspace.

The video includes computer animation of what such a missile attack would look like.

VIDEO: Understanding why the ban on #QatarAirways exists https://t.co/mrhRhlApWT pic.twitter.com/DFuMu0Hew8

— Al Arabiya English (@AlArabiya_Eng) August 14, 2017

The video refers to Qatar’s adversaries as “the anti-terrorism states,” accentuating their complaint that Qatar is supporting and indulging terrorist groups.

“According to international law, any state which forbids an airline from crossing above it possesses the right to deal with any airplane entering its realm,” the presentation continues. “Choices in this case usually include either dispatching fighter planes to force it down, after which its crew members may be prosecuted for several crimes, such as breaching national security and exposing civilians to danger.”

However, the narration goes on to assert that international law “also gives each state the right to bring down any plane entering its atmosphere which is identified as an enemy target, especially in military bases, where air defense is unrestrained.”

This declaration is accompanied by a video of a fighter jet firing a missile at a Qatari passenger plane, although mercifully the animation freezes right before the missile hits.

The presentation wraps up by noting that some emergency air corridors have been established for Qatari passenger planes. These flight paths are quite narrow and meant to be used only during in-flight emergencies. The heavily implied message is that Qatari pilots had better be very careful about straying outside the designated emergency corridors.

“It’s shocking that a news channel would think it’s acceptable to create and illustrate a passenger airline aircraft being blown out of the sky,” said air analyst Alex Macheras, as quoted by the UK Daily Mail.

Newsweek reports the video clip was created by “Al-Arabiya, which has close ties to Saudi Arabia’s royal family,” and posted to YouTube last week.