Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain severed their ties with Qatar on Monday, accusing the wealthy Gulf Arab state of supporting terrorism.
The coordinated move dramatically escalates a simmering dispute over Qatar’s support of the Muslim Brotherhood and adds accusations that Doha even backs the agenda of regional arch-rival Iran.
The three Gulf states announced the closure of transport ties with Qatar and gave Qatari visitors and residents two weeks to leave their countries.
Saudi Arabia accused Qatar of backing militant groups and spreading their violent ideology, in an apparent reference to its influential state-owned satellite channel Al Jazeera.
(Qatar) embraces multiple terrorist and sectarian groups aimed at disturbing stability in the region, including the Muslim Brotherhood, Daesh and Al-Qaeda, and promotes the message and schemes of these groups through their media constantly, the state news agency SPA said.
On its state news agency, Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous nation, said Qatar’s policy “threatens Arab national security and sows the seeds of strife and division within Arab societies according to a deliberate plan aimed at the unity and interests of the Arab nation.”
Qatar said it regretted the coordinated decision by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain to cut diplomatic relations, 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”.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Monday that they did not expect the decision by some Gulf countries to sever ties with Qatar to affect the fight against terrorism but urged them to address their differences.
“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,” Tillerson told reporters in Sydney after meetings between Australian and US foreign and defense ministers.
The region plays an important role for the US military in the fight against the Islamic State. Bahrain houses the US Navy’s Fifth fleet, which patrols the seas of the Middle East and Central Asia, while Qatar is home to the Al Udeid Airbase, from where the United States carries out airstrikes against militants in the region.
Tillerson urged the Gulf Cooperation Council nations to sort out their differences and said that the United States was willing to play a role in helping the countries address their differences.
Pakistan to stay away from conflict
Pakistan has no immediate plans to cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, a spokesman for the foreign ministry said on Monday.
The country “has no such plans,” the spokesman, Nafees Zakaria, said, following the severing of ties with Qatar by Islamabad’s key ally, Saudi Arabia, and three other Middle East nations.
“At the moment there is nothing on Qatar issue, (we) will issue a statement if some development takes place,” Zakaria said.
Pakistan, which has a significant Shi’ite Muslim population, has in recent years been caught between the feud between its Sunni ally, Saudi Arabia, and Shi’ite-majority neighbour Iran.
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