Gulf nations conflict explained: Why 4 Arab nations snapped ties with Qatar

Saudi Arabia and key allies Egypt, UAE, Bahrain snap ties with Qatar, ask its citizens to leave

Qatar's ties with Hamas and recent alleged statements by its emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, in support of Iran may have finally plunged the Gulf into a crisis. As reported earlier, Saudi Arabia and its key allies Egypt, UAE and Bahrain on Monday cut ties with Qatar.

The broad reason given for this drastic move is that the emirate poses a threat to their national security and they have accused the Gulf state of supporting terrorism. 

According to a Bloomberg report, the emirate sees itself as a power-broker in the region. However, it seems its ambitions have caused bad blood with its neighbours. In fact, as reported earlier, the situation is so severe that the three Gulf states involved have given Qatari citizens residing in their territory 14 days to leave. Egypt, so far, has not made it clear whether it will also ask Qatari citizens to leave.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Bahrain have cut diplomatic and consular relations with Qatar and will close all ground, sea and air ports to forbid transit, state news agencies have said. Egypt has also said it was severing its ties with the Gulf state and would close its airspace and seaports for all Qatari transportation.

Playing both sides

Hamas, Iran, and the Muslim Brotherhood, according to reports, Qatari leaders have maintained close ties with them all. 

In fact, just hours before the Gulf crisis tipped over, reports had emerged that Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states were trying to pressure Qatar into ejecting Hamas — the largest of several Palestinian militant Islamist groups. According to the Jerusalem Post, Khaled Mashaal, the former head of Hamas, has resided in Qatar since 2012.    

Another Jerusalem Post report said that on Saturday Qatar had moved to expel members of Hamas to leave the country due to "external pressure".  

Why would Qatar's support for Hamas, a group ostensibly fighting for a Palestinian state against Israel, earn Saudi Arabia's ire? Historically, Hamas and Iran have had a close association, and therein lies the answer. In fact, according to the Times of Israel, relations between Hamas and Iran, which had taken a beating since the Syrian civil war started in 2011, are back on track. The Israeli paper reported last week that Iran had agreed to start funding Hamas again. 

Given that Iran has long been Saudi Arabia's bête noire, supporting Hamas could not have earned Qatar any brownie points with the Kingdom. Further, the recent anti-Teheran alliance formed during US President Donald Trump's trip to the region should illustrate just how much love is lost between the Sunni-dominated countries of the region and Shia-dominated Iran. 

Consider these headlines recently carried by Al Arabiya, a Saudi-owned pan-Arab television news channel: "Hezbollah and Qatar – a story of forbidden love?", "The threat from Qatar", "How Qatar and Iran's hardliners are very much alike". 

In an opinion piece published today, Al Arabiya columnist Hussein Shobokshi writes: "It (Qatar) publicly supported the 'opponents' of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain and did the same with Morocco, Jordan and the UAE. In addition, it encouraged the Houthis to strengthen their ties with Iran and still continues to do so. It also opened the Qatari market for Iranian investments."  

Since 2015, a Saudi-led coalition has been fighting the Houthi militia in Yemen. 

Of course, these are just a few items in a long list of grievances the Kingdom holds against Qatar. According to Bloomberg, the emirate has also backed Muslim Brotherhood groups in Libya, Syria, Tunisia and Egypt. In 2014, Saudi Arabia had declared the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organisation. 

The emir's alleged statements on Hamas and Hezbollah

In a report published on June 1, The Washington Post said that "incendiary comments" allegedly made by Qatar’s emir Tamim on May 23 had set off a heated exchange between the Gulf states.  

According to Gulf News, the emir called Hezbollah a legitimate resistance movement and called Iran a "big power in the stabilisation of the region" and said that there was "no wisdom in harbouring hostility toward Iran".  

According to the report, the UAE and Saudi Arabia blocked Doha-based broadcaster Al Jazeera in response to the emir’s statements. 

These comments were attributed to the emir in a report published by the Qatar News Agency (QNA). However, on May 24, according to The Washington Post, Qatar's government communications office claimed that QNA had been hacked. 

The denials from Qatar, however, seem to have fallen on deaf ears. According to The Washington Post, since the emir's alleged speech, Gulf news agencies have extensively written on the matter and have "taken the emir’s speech as fact".