Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

The Tale of Saudi-Emirati Invasion of Qatar | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
Select Page
Media ID: 55383653
Caption:

The Doha City Center shopping mall in the Qatari capital, Doha, November 24, 2015. (Photo by AFP Photo/STR)


A news agency has quoted the White House as saying that US President Donald Trump succeeded in preventing a Saudi-Emirati military attack on Qatar. Barely an hour later, the US President issued a statement denying the news.

Then, another report surfaced saying Trump reprimanded Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim when he met him in New York. Trump revealed secret information to Tamim confirming Qatar’s continued involvement in funding terrorism despite signing an undertaking with the US few weeks ago to end that.

Many stories have made the rounds for political purposes, but reason denies them all, so does the nature of the crisis and Qatar’s resort to the protection of US bases and international military alliances.

Qatar resorted to publicity since June to gain sympathy in Kuwait for instance, and portray the other countries as the evil enemy.

The truth is different. Qatar has been working for years to weaken and target and consequently topple regimes like Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Egypt.

Targeting Bahrain is no secret to anyone. Doha supported the opposition that announced its intention to overturn the regime. Since the nineties, Qatar has financed religious extremists of the Saudi opposition in London that wants to topple the Saudi regime and is involved in the assassination attempt of late King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz.

As for Egypt, watching Qatari media for one night is enough to hear the direct calls to oust President Sisi’s government by force, aside from Qatar’s constant involvement in financing the opposition.

Despite that, none of the countries harmed by Qatar’s activity took any armed action or resorted to incitement. Even former president Hosni Mobarak, who was mostly targeted by Qatar, refused to respond to Doha and ignored it.

The four countries – Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAE and Bahrain – announced their intention and program against Qatar. Over ten Arab governments, which have remained silent, support them against Qatar.

The agenda against Qatar is based on the strategy of isolating and weakening it in hopes of forcing it to change its policy or at least weaken it to an extent it won’t be able to interfere in others’ affairs.

No one announced or even hinted towards toppling Al Thani regime or its head. Many believe – and maybe they are right – that the current Emir, Sheikh Tamim, is helpless and the person ruling and creating the problems is in fact his father who only formally abdicated the throne four years ago.

Since the beginning of the crisis, Doha turned to Turkey, US, and even Iran for help, claiming Saudi Arabia and the UAE are plotting against it and besieging the country in an unprecedented way.

This Qatari nonsense, a clone of Gaza’s claims, is unbelievable in a country full of caviar and Ferrari cars.

Shortly, the problem is that spoiled Qatari rulers won’t stop playing the role of major regional countries and at the same time refuse to bare the consequences of their actions.