Several countries took major moves against Qatar today over its support for terror. Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain severed diplomatic ties, setting off a major crisis in the Middle East.
BREAKING: United Arab Emirates, Egypt join Saudi Arabia and Bahrain in cutting diplomatic ties to Qatar.
— The Associated Press (@AP) June 5, 2017
Egypt, Saudis, Bahrain and U.A.E. cut ties with Qatar as Gulf rift deepens https://t.co/PSkpolT3bx
— Haaretz.com (@haaretzcom) June 5, 2017
The move also cuts Qatar’s transit rights with these countries:
#Bahrain, #Egypt, #Saudi Arabia and #UAE to also cut air and sea traffic to #Qatarhttps://t.co/T1PADdkbfD pic.twitter.com/ArY7J8irR7
— Arab News (@arabnews) June 5, 2017
Qatar Airways will also not be able to fly to Jordan (most of journey over Saudi), North Africa & much of Europe (except via Iran)
— Ghanem Nuseibeh (@gnuseibeh) June 5, 2017
Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Bahrain cut all ties. Qatari citizens have 14 days to leave counties. Saudis shut down sea, air, land crossings. https://t.co/2ffoNz6PYu
— @DukeStJournal (@DukeStJournal) June 5, 2017
Qatar citizens have been given 14 days and diplomats 48 hours to leave Bahrainhttps://t.co/gx1CYRcqik
— India Today (@IndiaToday) June 5, 2017
The BBC reports:
Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates have cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, accusing it of destabilising the region.
The countries say Qatar is supporting terrorist groups including the Muslim Brotherhood.
The Saudi state news agency SPA said Riyadh had closed its borders, severing land, sea and air contact.
It cited officials as saying it was to “protect its national security from the dangers of terrorism and extremism”.
Egypt has also closed its airspace and ports for all Qatari transportation, the foreign ministry said.
The United Arab Emirates has given Qatari diplomats 48 hours to leave the country. Abu Dhabi accuses Doha of “supporting, funding and embracing terrorism, extremism and sectarian organisations,” state news agency WAM said.
Bahrain’s state news agency said the country was cutting ties with Qatar over “shaking the security and stability of Bahrain and meddling in its affairs”.
Kuwait and Oman are sitting this one out for the moment:
Kuwait and Oman are not part of the boycott and severing of ties with Qatar
— Sarah El Deeb (@seldeeb) June 5, 2017
Which leaves Iran as Qatar’s main lifeline:
As Saudi, UAE & Bahrain close their airspace, waters, #Iran becomes #Qatar's sole breathing space.
— Sadegh Ghorbani (@GhorbaniSadegh) June 5, 2017
And with transit rights cut off, they’re going to need one:
Closure of the Saudi border will be a huge, immediate problem for Qatar, which produces almost none of its own food. https://t.co/wpwMQvQCDs
— Gregg Carlstrom (@glcarlstrom) June 5, 2017
https://twitter.com/SultanAlQassemi/status/871605576270323712
Of course, Qatar’s support for terrorism is no secret in the Middle East:
Re-posting my Oped: Qatar behind state-sponsorship of terrorism:https://t.co/wZuVSJRX93 #QatarTerror
— Mohamed Fahmy (@MFFahmy11) May 24, 2017
And the behind-the-scenes activity may have been behind reports over the weekend regarding Qatar’s sponsorship of Hamas:
Ynet – Qatar reportedly requires Hamas members to leave the capital https://t.co/0f4IGJYcNp
— Jonathan Schanzer (@JSchanzer) June 3, 2017
Report: Top Hamas operative Saleh Arouri left Qatar to Malaysia (following report that #Qatar asked #Hamas leaders to leave). pic.twitter.com/OhGJiInfjj
— Khaled Abu Toameh (@KhaledAbuToameh) June 4, 2017
Hamas: Qatar did NOT ask our leaders to leave
— Khaled Abu Toameh (@KhaledAbuToameh) June 4, 2017
Israel confirms that six senior Hamas operatives have left Qatar. – @alonbd https://t.co/TO0TIMheAS
— David Shor (@DYShor) June 5, 2017
It remains to be seen if Qatar will invoke its joint defense agreement with Iran in response to these measures.
Apparently it was Qatar’s close ties with Iran and siding with the Iranian-backed Houthi militias in Yemen that contributed to this crisis.
Saudi Foreign Ministry: "it has come to our attention that the Qatari Gov was supporting and sending aid to the Houthis in Yemen" https://t.co/T8UHxatung
— S. Rifai (@THE_47th) June 5, 2017
S.Arabia, Bahrain & Egypt CUT diplomatic ties w Qatar, escalating a crisis started over Qatar’s ties w Iran & support of Muslim Brotherhood.
— Ilhan Tanir (@WasHatti) June 5, 2017
The Saudi foreign minister was in Cairo meeting with his Egyptian counterpart yesterday, and they issued a joint declaration against extremism.
Minister Adel Al-Jubeir via Twitter from #Cairo .. Saudi-Egyptian ongoing cooperation of war on extremism and terrorism pic.twitter.com/mzSMcsmijG
— وزارة الخارجية 🇸🇦 (@KSAMOFA) June 5, 2017
So it’s not surprising to see the Egyptian press this morning:
Egypt: "Qatar's policy threatens Arab national security and sows seeds of strife and division within Arab societies"https://t.co/1JyU1DQrpF
— Ahram Online (@ahramonline) June 5, 2017
https://twitter.com/spectatorindex/status/871574942348787712
One sticky question related to Egypt remains unanswered at this point: will Qatar still be able to transit the Suez Canal?
If Egypt cuts sea traffic to Qatar that means #SUEZ canal – MAJOR PROBLEM https://t.co/Mmbb4M0BUH
— Awad Mustafa (@awadz) June 5, 2017
If it stops shipping traffic from Qatar, that may raise significant international trade and law issues.
On Friday, a UAE media outlet published an interview with a member of the Qatari ruling family attacking their support for terrorism and seemingly backing him as a replacement for the current emir:
Opposition figure seeks to bring #Qatar back in line with common #GCC stance.https://t.co/zaLFPxx7NU
— The National World (@TheNatWorld) June 2, 2017
Says #UAE media, #Qatar now has a "leading opposition figure" launching political party to oppose the Qatari emir. https://t.co/6jAYk4eQRF
— Haykal Bafana (@BaFana3) June 3, 2017
Needless to say, this is a major development in the Middle East.
Okay, this is unprecedented escalation/moves/language from Arab states against Qatar . Either cleaning house or headed to confrontation.
— Joyce Karam (@Joyce_Karam) June 5, 2017
NBC News Politics managing editor Dafna Linzer couldn’t decide if this was a good or bad development for the Trump administration, so she decided to take both sides of the issue — all within 17 minutes of each other (HT: David Shor):
National Security Adviser boasted of Trump’s Saudi trip 2nite to Jewish group, seemed unaware of this: https://t.co/ygWDRU4rNr https://t.co/3ZkjsNMWva
— Dafna Linzer (@DafnaLinzer) June 5, 2017
This just after Trump admin promises $100 billion in arms sale to Saudis. https://t.co/xcBpSUlc2q
— Dafna Linzer (@DafnaLinzer) June 5, 2017
There are serious implications for the U.S., possibly putting us in the middle of a Gulf-state hot war.
This may also split the State Department, with many Obama hold-overs still loyal to the president’s Iran policy, including the U.S. ambassador to Qatar.
Same U.S. Ambassador who struggled 2 explain U.S. democracy has no problem explaining away Qatar's terror finance. https://t.co/XFrljX1WzQ pic.twitter.com/JzPLNC37OW
— Kyle Shideler (@ShidelerK) May 31, 2017
It seems the U.S. ambassador in Qatar has gone rogue, publicly supporting Qatar against most of our major Arab allies in the Middle East.
US amb to Qatar JUST retweeted old post from Oct 2016 saying #USA supports #Qatar following UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain cut off relations https://t.co/8i1tRjOY1M
— Saad (@SaadAbedine) June 5, 2017
Seems a good time to RT this one. https://t.co/AJ1BA29UnU
— Chargé Phillip Nelson (@USAmbQatar) June 5, 2017
This is so important, I'm sharing it again. Great partnership, real progress to counter terrorist financing. #Qatar https://t.co/yjnEg2IJlF
— Chargé Phillip Nelson (@USAmbQatar) October 26, 2016
Oh, and then there’s this:
N.B. US CENTCOM Forward HQ is in Qatar. The Shi'ite could get real pretty quick. #Saudi #Egypt #UAE #Bahrain https://t.co/mEQ1CW5s04
— Patrick Poole (@pspoole) June 5, 2017
Oooff, bad timing for the Brookings Institution:
#Qatar and Brookings Center Sign Agreementhttps://t.co/z5AfgKH31G#Mofa#df2017 pic.twitter.com/jYXk9V2OOx
— MOFA – Qatar (@MofaQatar_EN) May 15, 2017
And Rand:
It is not preordained that sectarianism in the Middle East will rise or fall over the coming decade. New analysis: https://t.co/Llh2bQhc0i
— RAND Corporation (@RANDCorporation) June 5, 2017
And Al Jazeera:
https://twitter.com/SultanAlQassemi/status/871592249309757440
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