Cairo – Five Arab countries have cut ties with Qatar in a widening rift between the small Gulf state and its regional allies, who accuse Doha of supporting terrorist groups and Iran.
Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Yemen have closed their borders and called on Qataris to leave within two weeks, after accusing Qatar of supporting terrorism in Yemen and Syria.
The eastern-based government in Libya and the Maldives followed suit.
Qatar denounced the coordinated action as a violation of its sovereignty and a fabrication of “baseless allegations.”
Its Foreign Ministry said there “is no legitimate justification for these measures,” charging that the move was aimed at “imposing guardianship” over Qatar.
The severing of ties comes days after these countries were angered by comments attributed to Qatar’s ruler in which he praised Iran.
The Gulf countries described the Qatari leader’s remarks as a violation of the statements issued at a summit of 55 Arab and Muslim countries last month in the Saudi capital Riyadh, where Iran was accused of sponsoring terrorism.
Egypt gave the Qatari ambassador 48 hours to leave the country, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said, while Egypt’s charge d’affairs in Doha was given the same timeframe to leave Qatar.
Egypt and the UAE accused Qatar of supporting and funding Islamic State, al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood.
The UAE warned it will close its “airspace and seaports for all Qataris within 24 hours.”
Bahrain said Qatar was undermining its security by supporting “acts of terror and financing armed groups associated with Iran” to carry out attacks on its territories.
Several airlines in the region suspended all flights to and from Doha, including Bahrain’s national carrier, Gulf Air, and the UAE’s Etihad Airlines and Fly Dubai.
Saudi Arabia expelled Qatar from the coalition it leads against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen because of what Riyadh described as Doha’s practices that strengthen terrorism.
Last month, the Qatari news agency quoted Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani as saying that Iran is “a regional, Islamic power that cannot be ignored” and it would not be wise to fight against it.
Shortly after, the news agency said its website and Twitter account had been hacked by an “unknown entity,” which was responsible for publishing a false statement attributed to the emir.
The statements prompted Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and Cairo to block the Qatari news agency, Al Jazeera and several other Qatari websites.
Iran is the main regional rival of Saudi Arabia, which hosted the Arab Islamic summit where both Saudi King Salman and US President Donald Trump attacked Tehran for inciting unrest in the Middle East.
“That was likely the first crack in the [anti-Iran] coalition and the initial result of the sword dance in Riyadh,” tweeted Hamid Aboutalebi, Iran’s deputy chief of staff for political affairs.
Hamid was referring to a traditional sword dance performed by Trump on his visit to Saudi Arabia for the summit.
Hamid asked how politically “fragile the Arab states must be if a little emirate like Qatar can become a strategic danger to them.”
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said that Trump is committed to having conversations with the parties in the rift to “de-escalate” the situation.
“I do not expect that this will have any significant impact, if any impact at all, on the unified fight against terrorism in the region or globally,” said US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in Sydney.
Qatar hosts more than 10,000 US and coalition personnel at Al-Udeid Air Base.
The US believes it is important that the Gulf Cooperation Council – which includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE – remains intact, Tillerson said, urging the countries to sort out their differences.
The Pentagon said US military operations are unaffected by the rift.
“US military aircraft continue to conduct missions in support of ongoing operations in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan,” said Marine Corps Major Adrian JT Rankine-Galloway, a Pentagon spokesman, voicing “no plans to change our posture in Qatar.”
Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said the split in the Gulf “without a doubt, opens possibilities for cooperation in the battle against terrorism” as it shows “that even in the Arab states they understand that the danger is not Zionism but terrorism.”
Israel has long been looking for closer cooperation with Arab Gulf states. Saudi Arabia does not formally recognize Israel, though Egypt signed a peace deal with the Jewish State.
-dpa
