Qatar’s only land border has been mostly closed since mid-2017
BY RT
Full ties have been restored between Saudi Arabia and Qatar after hugs were exchanged between leaders of the two nations at the annual Gulf Cooperation Council summit on Tuesday, ending their three-year-diplomatic dispute.
Riyadh and its allies, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain, have agreed to resume relations with Doha, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud told a news conference.
It follows the announcement by Kuwait – a mediator of the talks – on Monday that the four Arab nations would reopen their land, sea and air borders with Qatar.
The countries had cut Qatar off in 2017 over its relationship with Iran, as well as claims that it funded designated terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda and Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), allegations it strongly denies.
Full ties have been restored between Saudi Arabia and Qatar after hugs were exchanged between leaders of the two nations at the annual Gulf Cooperation Council summit on Tuesday, ending their three-year-diplomatic dispute.
Riyadh and its allies, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Bahrain, have agreed to resume relations with Doha, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud told a news conference.
It follows the announcement by Kuwait – a mediator of the talks – on Monday that the four Arab nations would reopen their land, sea, and air borders with Qatar.
The countries had cut Qatar off in 2017 over its relationship with Iran, as well as claims that it funded designated terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda and Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), allegations it strongly denies.
(From The BBC) – The lifting of the embargo on Qatar has taken months of patient, painstaking diplomacy, mostly by Kuwait, but with increasingly urgent prodding from the White House as the Trump presidency draws to a close.
The three-and-a-half year “blockade” has been immensely costly to both Qatar’s economy and to the notion of Gulf unity. Qataris will not forgive or forget in a hurry what they see as a stab in the back by their Gulf Arab neighbours.
But beyond the diplomatic rhetoric one country in particular – the UAE – has grave doubts that Qatar is actually going to change its ways.
While Qatar denies supporting terrorism it has supported political Islamist movements in Gaza, Libya and elsewhere, notably the transnational Muslim Brotherhood which the UAE views as an existential threat to its monarchy.
Meanwhile, the embargo has, if anything, pushed Qatar closer to Saudi Arabia’s ideological enemies: Turkey and Iran.
