Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Egypt cut ties with Qatar over ‘terrorism'

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Yemen, Bahrain, and the Maldives have cut off relations with Qatar on Monday, accusing the country of supporting terrorism.

The coordinated move severed ties over Qatar’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood, the world’s oldest Islamist movement.  The countries also accused Doha of backing the regional agenda of their opponent, Iran.

The three Gulf countries announced they closed their borders to Qatar and gave Qatari residents and visitors two weeks to leave their states. Doha was also dismissed from the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen.

Riyadh closed air and sea traffic with Qatar, asking all other countries to do the same.

In a statement, Bahrain’s Foreign Ministry said it would withdraw all of its diplomatic mission from Qatar within 48 hours, and asked Qatari diplomats to follow suit and withdraw their diplomats in Bahrain within the same period.

Egypt also declared it closed its airspace and seaports to all Qatari transportation to “protect its national security,” the Egyptian Foreign Ministry cited.

UAE’s Etihad Airways stated that it would suspend flights to and from Qatar starting Tuesday morning.

Qatar said it regretted a coordinated decision by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain to cut diplomatic relations on Monday over Doha's alleged support for terrorism, according to Qatar-based al Jazeera TV.

"The measures are unjustified and are based on claims and allegations that have no basis in fact," the network quoted the foreign ministry as saying.

Qatar said the decisions would "not affect the normal lives of citizens and residents". 

The measures taken against Qatar are lighter than the ones used in 2014, when Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Bahrain withdrew their ambassadors from the country. However, travel links then had not been cut, and Qatari residents were not forced to leave the countries.

The severe rifts between Qatar and the mentioned countries could have significant consequences in the Middle East as the Gulf states have combined their political and financial pull to influence events in different countries around the Middle East including, Iraq, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, and Syria.

Qatar is also the host country for the World Cup in 2022.

The cutting off of relations between Qatar and the four countries comes after the recent visit by US President Donald Trump to the Middle East and his meeting with the Arab nations.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Monday issued a statement while on a visit to Australia, calling on the Gulf States to stay united.

“We certainly would encourage the parties to sit down together and address these differences,” Tillerson said in Sydney.

“If there's any role that we can play in terms of helping them address those, we think it is important that the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) remain united,” he added.

Editing by G.H. Renaud