Updated to reflect that there is no longer a ban on OFWs traveling to Qatar from the Philippines.
US President Donald Trump approves of the recent action taken against Qatar by its Gulf neighbors, and actually appears to have taken credit for it.
In a series of tweets yesterday, Trump said his recent visit to Saudi Arabia is “already paying off” in terms of fighting “the horror of terrorism.”
The statements came from his personal account, not his presidential one. It remains unclear whether they represent the US government’s stance, as Qatar is a longtime ally.
Contradiction
If it does, the remarks would be an about-face from the supportive tone taken by diplomats and the US Secretary of State just a day earlier.
Cognizant of the fact that Qatar hosts its largest air base in the region, these parties urged a swift resolution to the Gulf dispute.
U.S. Air Force
A dozen 2,000-pound joint direct attack munitions sit inside a warehouse at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar. The bombs were built by hand by airmen from the 379th Expeditionary Maintenance Squadron’s Munitions Flight.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon declined to comment on the tweets, but said that the US military is grateful for Qatar’s support.
And officials said earlier this week that air campaigns in Syria and Iraq against ISIL would continue to be carried out from the Al Udeid base.
Closed borders
On Monday, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE announced the severance of diplomatic ties with Qatar, something they also did in 2014.
But in an unprecedented move, they ordered Qatari citizens to leave their countries within two weeks.
Additionally, the nations barred their own citizens from visiting Qatar, and have closed off air, land and sea borders to the nation.
Egypt, Yemen and the Maldives have also entered the dispute. They have sided with Saudi Arabia and the others, who say Qatar is fomenting instability in the region by supporting terrorism.
Qatari officials have dismissed these claims repeatedly.
Speaking to CNN yesterday, Qatar’s foreign minister said his nation has actually been working to protect the world from potential terrorists.
Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said:
“We are promoting for peace, we are promoting for open diplomacy, we are promoting for dialogue. Qatar is promoting for education, we are creating jobs for the people in the Middle East. We are giving them better hope, we are replacing the weapons with pens when we are educating young children in the refugee camps.”
He added that the entire dispute was ignited after QNA was hacked last month.
At the time, inflammatory statements attributed to the Emir upset many in the Gulf. Though officials debunked these as made-up, the GCC states don’t appear to believe this.
FBI officials are helping Qatar investigate the incident and suggested yesterday that Russian hackers may have been involved. It remains unclear whether they were state-sponsored.
Spiraling crisis
Despite Qatar’s foreign minister saying “Right now it’s business as usual,” the crisis continued to spiral yesterday. In addition to Trump’s tweets, key developments include:
Qatar Airways closed down in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain
Both nations have revoked the national carrier’s license to operate and ordered it offices closed within 48 hours, according to the Saudi Press Agency.
Bahrain’s news agency added that passengers who have tickets to or from Qatar arrange for a refund from the airline as soon as possible.
For its part, Qatar Airways says it is operating its routes as normal, except that flights to Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt have been suspended until further notice.
That amounts to more than 30 canceled Qatar Airways flights to and from Doha, as well as a several more from Gulf carriers.
The Philippines barred workers from going to Qatar (but then changed its mind)
Officials said this was a precaution, but the move had been criticized by many OFWs in Qatar as an overreaction.
Speaking to media yesterday, Labor chief Silvestre Bello had said:
“We are foreseeing a possible problem in Qatar. For example, we know for a fact that Qatar does not produce its own food. If anything happens that they run out of food and food riots will take place, definitely our OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers)… will be the first victims,” he said.
Jordan partially cuts off ties with Qatar
Jordan officials said they are downgrading relations with Qatar for the sake of “regional stability.”
Paul Keller/Flickr
Source: dohanews.co
