Regional crises, bitter diplomatic dispute cloud Gulf summit in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia hosts a summit of Arab Gulf leaders Sunday as crises brew over a bitter diplomatic dispute with Qatar, the war in Yemen and the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani has been invited by Riyadh, which severed diplomatic ties with Doha in 2017 along with Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) talks.

But it was unclear if the emir would attend the annual gathering of the GCC, whose others members – Kuwait and Oman – have stayed out of the worst political fallout between the energy-rich Gulf powers.

Saudi Arabia and its allies accuse Qatar of supporting terrorism and fostering close ties with their regional rival Iran.

Doha – which announced this month it was quitting the Saudi-dominated OPEC oil cartel – denies the allegations, but the dispute has dragged on.

“Qatar has burned all the bridges enabling it to take back” its place within the GCC, Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmad Al-Khalifa said in the run-up to the summit.

The GCC was formed in 1981 at the height of the IraqIran war and two years after the Islamic revolution in Tehran sparked concern in Sunniled Gulf states, many of which have sizable Shiite populations, including in Bahrain.

GCC Secretary General Abdellatif al-Zayani has said the 39th summit in Riyadh would review ties with Iran after the US reimposed an oil embargo and other sanctions on Tehran.