UAE warns Qatar sanctions could last years

The United Arab Emirates warned Qatar on Monday that sanctions imposed by several of its neighbors could last for years unless Doha accepts demands which Arab powers plan to reveal in coming days.

Qatar, which denies accusations by its neighbors that it funds terrorism and foments regional instability, held war games with Turkish troops, showing off one of its few remaining strong alliances after two weeks of unprecedented isolation.

The Gulf diplomatic dispute has opened a rift between some of the main U.S. allies in the Middle East, after Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE and Bahrain cut off tiny-but-wealthy Qatar from trade, travel and diplomacy two weeks ago.

Tough remarks by UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash on Monday made clear that the countries seeking to isolate Qatar have no intention of backing down soon.

"Qatar will realise that this is a new state of affairs and isolation can last years," Gargash told a small group of reporters in Paris on Monday.

"If they want to be isolated because of their perverted view of what their political role is, then let them be isolated. They are still in a phase of denial and anger," he said, adding that a list of grievances for Qatar to address would be completed in the next days.

Qatar has relished support from Turkey during the dispute. Its state-funded pan-Arab news channel Al Jazeera showed footage of a column of armored personnel carriers flying the Turkish flag inside the Tariq bin Ziyad military base in Doha.

It reported that additional Turkish troops had arrived in Qatar on Sunday for the exercises, although military sources in the region told Reuters the operation actually involved Turkish troops that were already present rather than new arrivals.

The dispute is a major test for the United States, which is close allies with the countries on both sides. A base in Qatar houses the headquarters of U.S. air power in the Middle East.

President Donald Trump strongly supported the sanctions against Qatar, even as his State Department and Defense Department tried to remain neutral. Trump called Qatar a "funder of terrorism at a very high level", but five days later his Pentagon approved selling $12 billion of warplanes to Qatar.

"BASELESS PROPAGANDA"

Qatar, the world's richest country per capita, has used its wealth over the past decade to exert outsized influence in the Middle East, backing factions in civil wars and revolts across the region.

It says it is being punished for straying from its neighbors' political line of backing the region's authoritarian hereditary and military rulers.

"It is unfortunate that our neighbors have chosen to invest their time and resources in a baseless propaganda campaign," Sheikh Saif Bin Ahmed al-Thani, Director of Qatar's Government Communications Office, said in a statement on Monday, calling the terrorism accusations a "publicity stunt".

 

 

REUTERS