Gulf states on Monday cut diplomatic ties with neighboring Qatar and kicked it out of a military coalition, in the region’s most serious diplomatic crisis in years.
Qatar’s Gulf neighbors Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates as well as Egypt all announced they were severing ties with gas-rich Qatar.
To “protect its national security from the dangers of terrorism and extremism” Riyadh decided to “sever diplomatic and consular ties with Qatar, and to close all land, sea and aviation” links, a Saudi official cited by the official Saudi Press Agency said.
The “decisive” measure was due to the “gross violations committed by authorities in Qatar over the past years”, the Saudi statement said.
It said Qatar harbored “a number of terrorist and sectarian groups that aim to destabilize the region including the Muslim Brotherhood, Daesh (ISIL) and Al-Qaeda”.
Riyadh also accused Doha of supporting Iran-backed “terrorist activities” in Saudi Arabia’s Shiite-dominated area of Qatif, as well as in Bahrain, both of which have seen unrest over the past six years.
Bahrain’s news agency said Manama was cutting ties with Doha over its insistence on “rocking the security and stability of Bahrain and meddling in its affairs”.
Riyadh ordered its nationals to leave Qatar — host of the 2022 football World Cup — within 14 days and barred Qataris from the kingdom.
Many expatriate and Saudi travelers use Qatar as their gateway into Saudi Arabia.
Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways said it would suspend flights to Qatar from Tuesday.
Egypt’s foreign ministry also accused Doha of supporting “terrorism” and announced the closure of its ports and airports to Qatari carriers.
A Saudi-led coalition, which for more than two years has been launching a brutal aggression against Yemen, separately announced Qatar was no longer welcome in the alliance.
The US-supported coalition accused Qatar of “support to (terrorist) organizations in Yemen”, a claim being made publicly for the first time.
War of Words
The diplomatic move was preceded by a war of words between Qatar and Gulf states, especially Saudi and UAE.
Earlier this week, Qatar’s state-run news agency released comments attributed to Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on sensitive issues.
The Qatari emir was quoted as describing Iran as an “Islamic power” and “big power in the stabilization of the region.”
A post also appeared on the agency’s Twitter page, quoting the Qatari foreign minister as saying that his country was withdrawing its ambassadors from Kuwait, Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE amid tensions.
The Qatari government then said that the state agency had been hacked and that the remarks attributed to the emir and the foreign minister had never been made.
The official denial, which was offered several more times, nevertheless failed to stop the rift between the Arab countries from widening. Saudi media viciously attacked Qatar, accusing it of having “betrayed” the other Arab countries particularly at a time when they had attempted to stage a show of “unity” against Iran in a much-publicized and extravagant series of events in Riyadh.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates also blocked Qatari websites and broadcasters.
Source: AFP
