Algeria has closed airspace for French military aircraft.

Algeria has closed airspace for French military aircraft.

Algeria has closed its airspace to French military aircraft on a mission off the coast of Africa. This was announced on Sunday by the Al Jazeera TV channel, citing its sources.

Relations between Algeria and Paris escalated sharply after the statements of French President Emmanuel Macron about the former colony. According to the French newspaper Le Monde, last Thursday, the president, at a meeting with the descendants of those who opposed the fighters for Algerian independence, said that the official history of Algeria had been completely rewritten. According to claims attributed to Macron, "Algeria's history is based not on truths, but rather on a discourse of hatred for France." As the French newspaper notes, the president was referring to the Algerian ruling elite, not society as a whole.

On Saturday, the presidential office issued a harsh statement to Paris. "These words are an unbearable attack on the memory of the 5,630,000 brave martyrs who sacrificed their lives in heroic resistance to the French colonial invasion and the glorious revolution of national liberation," reads a communiqué released by the Algerian news agency APS. "The crimes of colonial France in Algeria are countless and conform to the strictest definitions of genocide against humanity. These crimes cannot be subject to manipulation of facts and mitigating interpretations. "