Saturday, May 27, 2017

Dubai: The UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs has called for Gulf states to rally behind Saudi Arabia.

“In a turbulent region, there is no alternative to Gulf unity, and Saudi Arabia is the linchpin,” Dr Anwar Mohammad Gargash wrote on Twitter on Friday.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates signalled frustration at Qatar after its state media published purported remarks by Qatari Emir Shaikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani criticising Gulf rhetoric against Iran and suggesting tensions between the emir and US President Donald Trump.

Since the dispute erupted, authorities in Saudi Arabia and the UAE have blocked the main website of Qatar-based Al Jazeera television.

On Friday some Al Jazeera television channels were also still blocked.

The latest tensions came days after Gulf Arab leaders met Trump at a Riyadh summit of Muslim nations meant to showcase solidarity against Islamist militants and Iran’s regional meddling.

Relations between Qatar and other Gulf Arab states suffered an eight-month breach in 2014 over Qatar’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain withdrew their ambassadors from Doha in protest.

Eight months later, they returned their ambassadors as Qatar forced some Brotherhood members to leave the country and quieted others.

In the time since, Qatar repeatedly and strongly denied it funds extremist groups.

However, it remains a key financial patron of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and has been the home of exiled Hamas official Khalid Mashaal since 2012.

Western officials also have accused Qatar of allowing or even encouraging funding of extremists like Al Qaida’s branch in Syria, once known as Al Nusra Front.

Kuwait’s foreign minister, meanwhile, met Qatar’s emir on Friday for talks that appeared aimed at trying to ease renewed tensions between Qatar and fellow Gulf Arab countries over its policy towards Iran and regional Islamist groups.

Kuwait, which acted as a mediator during a previous Gulf dispute with Qatar, sent its top diplomat Shaikh Sabah Al Khalid Al Sabah to visit Shaikh Tamim on Friday. A Gulf Arab official told Reuters on Thursday that Kuwait’s emir had offered during a conversation with Shaikh Tamim to mediate and host talks to ensure the feud does not escalate.

Kuwaiti officials were not immediately available for comment.

Gulf News Report

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