TEMPO.CO, Washington, D.C - The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has ordered all airlines based in the US to stop flying over Syria, citing a "serious potential threat to civil planes, including armed groups with anti-aircraft weapons."
"Based on an updated assessment of the risk associated with such operations and the lack of any requests from operators wishing to fly in this airspace, we believe it is prudent to prohibit US operators from flying into, out of and over Syria," the FAA said in a statement as reported by Channel News Asia yesterday.
In the previous FAA's notification called Notice to Airmen, FAA strongly advised US airlines against flying over Syria.
"The ongoing armed conflict and volatile security environment in Syria poses a serious potential threat to civil aviation," the new notice said.
"Armed extremist groups in Syria are known to be equipped with a variety of anti-aircraft weapons which have the capability to threaten civilian aircrafts." In some cases, opposition groups have repeatedly shot down Syrian military aircraft over the conflict that began nearly three and a half years ago.
The ban applies to all US commercial airlines and companies. FAA has also imposed a ban on US planes over Iraq since August 8.
Syria, like Iraq, is an important travel route for planes going between Europe and the Middle East or Asia.
CHANNEL NEWS ASIA | ROSALINA
