Algeria will close its airspace to all United Arab Emirates-registered civilian and military aircraft from Friday, the North African nation announced Thursday following a decision to sever diplomatic relations with the Gulf country.

UAE commercial flights to and ⁠from Algiers will be exempt from ​the ban until ​the ⁠end ‌of ‌2026, when ⁠the ‌current ​contract expires, its Defense Ministry said.

The UAE, meanwhile, later Thursday said it hoped Algeria's decision to cut diplomatic relations was temporary.

Algeria accused Abu Dhabi of interfering in national and regional affairs and said it was giving the UAE ambassador 48 hours "to comply with the decision."

In an official statement, Algiers accused the Gulf country of "provocative and hostile acts," but it remained unclear what triggered the rupture.

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has often referred to the UAE as a "micro-state" or "statelet" seeking to destabilize several countries in the region, citing Libya, Mali and Sudan.

The North African country, which has signaled for months a diplomatic break, said the decision came "after exhausting all avenues to preserve bilateral relations" with the UAE.

The Algerian Foreign Ministry said it had warned Abu Dhabi several times, but the UAE "persisted in its actions, reaching a point where they could no longer be considered acceptable or tolerable."

"Algeria spared no effort to draw the Emirati side's attention to, and to warn it against, the dire consequences that could result from its regrettable and unjustified conduct," the ministry said.

In a televised interview in July, Tebboune again lashed out at Abu Dhabi, saying "wherever they set foot, blood flows."

"We want them to stay away, so that blood does not flow in our country," he added.

At that time, Tebboune said a diplomatic break "would have happened long ago" had Algeria not sought to avoid "deepening divisions" in the Arab world.

Tensions between the two countries have been fueled by several developments in recent years.

Last year, Algerian state television denounced what it called a hostile media campaign after UAE-based broadcaster Sky News Arabia aired an interview with historian Mohamed Amine Belghit, who made controversial remarks questioning the existence of Algeria's indigenous Amazigh culture.

Belghit was jailed in Algeria but later pardoned by Tebboune.

Further divisions between Algiers and Abu Dhabi also stemmed from diverging diplomatic policies, including the UAE's normalization of ties with Israel in 2020.