The Italian foreign ministry said
Tuesday that the United Arab Emirates Ambassador to Rome, Omar
Al Shamsi, had been summoned after the UAE refused access to its
air space to an Italian Air Force flight.
The Air Force Boeing 767 was taking around 40 Italian
journalists to Herat, in Afghanistan, which Defence Minister
Lorenzo Guerini is visiting.
A statement said Foreign Ministry Secretary General Ettore Sequi
had summoned Shamsi after being instructed to do so by Foreign
Minister Luigi Di Maio.
It said that Sequi expressed Rome's "surprise and strong
displeasure at an unexpected gesture that is hard to
understand".
Photo: Italian Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese (L), and
Defence Minister Lorenzo Guerini.
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