SAUDIS DEPORT 15,000 CAMELS IN QATAR SPAT

After Saudi Arabia broke off relations with Qatar on June 5, Riyadh made clear it wanted nothing to do with its tiny Arab neighbour. Trade is cut off, planes headed to Qatar can’t fly through Saudi airspace, and now, even Qatari camels in Saudi Arabia must go.

Qatar has little land to pasture its camels, so many Qatari families have pastured their camels in Saudi Arabia, travelling across the border to tend to their livestock. After the deportation order was handed down, 15,000 Qatari camels were sent home with thousands trapped at the border for days.

“The camels were starving. Some of the males were fighting and in very bad condition,” one camel owner told Reuters. “My brother still has 10 or 11 camels in Saudi Arabia.”