Likely target of alleged flydubai attacker revealed, Israel claims

The man suspected of carrying out an attack in an attempt to gain control of a flydubai flight into Israel planned to crash the plane into an international airport at Tel Aviv, Israeli officials believe.

Co-pilot Hamam al-Hammami is alleged to have attacked Captain Smit Machchhar with a crash axe, severely wounding him, before trying to take control of the plane.

Machchhar was able to open the locked cabin door, allowing passengers to restrain al-Hammami, and two off-duty pilots on board were able to take control of the plane and land it safely in Saudi Arabia.

Most of those on board were Israeli citizens, returning from Dubai to Tel Aviv.

Israel’s Channel 12 was the first to report that Ben Gurion Airport at Tel Aviv was the likely target, with CNN later confirming this was a line of inquiry after speaking to an unnamed Israeli official and an Israeli source.

Al-Hammami was extradited to the United Arab Emirates last week, where an investigation into his alleged actions is underway.

The official and the source said Israel was “receiving updates from the Emiratis and that the investigation was still in its early stages”, CNN reported.

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But they said there were still questions around al-Hammami’s intentions – for example, why he attacked Machchhar while in Saudi airspace if his plan was to carry out a terror attack in Israel.

Israel received notice of the attempted hijacking of the flight in time to scramble fighter jets, which likely would have ultimately brought the plane down if it entered Israeli airspace.

There also remain questions about how al-Hammami, who Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed had received “radical Islamist” indoctrination, could have been cleared to fly a plane into Israel.

Al-Hammami is an Omani citizen, and Israel does not maintain diplomatic relations with Oman, a fact which should have prevented his clearance.

Further, al-Hammami had come to the notice of previous employers for what were described as extremist beliefs.

Israeli authorities heavily screen all passengers seeking to enter the country, while the names of pilots and crew are also provided to the Israel Tax Authority.

The Ministry of Transport said it did not as a matter of course carry out security checks on crew members.

Israeli sources recently told CNN it was believed at the moment that al-Hammami acted alone, without a link to any existing terror organisation.

In the US, President Donald Trump told reporters he believed Iran was probably linked to the attack, according to Reuters.

The same outlet quoted Vice President JD Vance in a different conversation, saying he had not seen anything that would conclusively connect Iran to the incident.