Algeria cuts diplomatic ties with UAE: What we know

What the report says

Algeria has cut diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates after what Algiers described as years of worsening tensions and repeated “provocative and hostile” actions. According to Al Jazeera, the announcement was made by Algeria’s state television and foreign ministry on Thursday, with the UAE ambassador summoned and given 48 hours to leave. Algeria also said it would close its airspace to UAE-registered aircraft starting Friday, while exempting Emirati commercial flights to and from Algiers until the end of the year.

The rupture comes amid longstanding disagreements over regional politics, especially Algeria’s opposition to normalisation with Israel and its support for the Polisario Front in the Western Sahara dispute. Al Jazeera reported that Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has previously accused an unnamed regional actor of destabilising countries across North Africa and the Sahel, remarks widely understood to refer to the UAE. The article said Algeria had already moved in February to cancel a 2013 air services agreement with the Emirati side.

In response, UAE presidential adviser Anwar Gargash urged diplomacy based on clarity and rationality, without directly naming Algeria. The UAE foreign ministry said it hoped the decision would be temporary and emphasised ties between the two peoples. More broadly, the article places the split within a pattern of UAE disputes with several regional governments, including Somalia and Sudan, over security and political influence.