Liège Airport in Belgium Suspends Operations Due to Unidentified Drone Sighting
According to the English section of webangah News Agency, citing Mehr News Agency and Al jazeera, air traffic at Belgium’s Liège Airport was halted early Friday morning after an unidentified drone was spotted in the sky.
News outlets confirmed that flights at this airport were once more suspended because of the presence of an unkown drone.
This follows a similar incident on Tuesday evening when arrivals and departures at Belgium’s busiest airport, Brussels Airport, were paused for several hours. Dozens of flights were canceled as a result. The airspace over Liège-a major freight transport hub-was also closed earlier this week, causing additional cancellations, delays, and rerouted flights.
Meanwhile, the mayor of Diest in Belgium’s Flanders region reported that police and military forces observed four drones near the Schaffen military airbase on Tuesday.
Prior to these new sightings, Belgian authorities have been investigating mysterious drone appearances near several military bases in recent days. Among these is Kleine-Brogel Air Base near the Dutch border, which hosts Belgian F-16 fighters and reportedly stores U.S. nuclear weapons.
The recent spate of drones detected over Belgian airspace is part of a broader pattern of unauthorized intrusions into European countries’ skies since mid-September. In recent weeks, drones have also been spotted over the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Poland, Norway, and Spain.
Last month Lithuania shut down its two main airports after helium balloons suspected to carry contraband cigarettes entered its airspace.
Lithuania’s Prime Minister later described these incursions as “hybrid attacks,” a term previously used to refer to Moscow’s destabilizing efforts.
In September alone three Russian military jets entered Estonian airspace while Romania scrambled two F-16 fighters following a drone incursion amid russian attacks on ukraine.
A few weeks ago Copenhagen International Airport in Denmark was temporarily closed after several large drones were sighted overhead.
On Monday aircraft movements at Bremen Airport in Germany also stopped briefly after an unknown drone was detected nearby.
The past weeks have seen repeated unauthorized drone entries into multiple airports across Europe including copenhagen and oslo-leading to temporary closures and extensive disruptions across European air travel networks.
European officials have warned about advanced drone network operations posing serious security challenges. They have announced initial steps toward establishing a ”drone shield” system designed to counter these emerging threats effectively.
