HACK, FAKE STORY EXPOSE TENSIONS BETWEEN QATAR AND GULF STATES

DUBAI: Incendiary statements about Iran and Israel posted on Qatar’s state-run news agency that authorities blamed on hackers sparked a regional dispute on Wednesday, with the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia blocking Qatari media, including Al-Jazeera. The fake article quoted ruling emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani as calling Iran an “Islamic power” and saying Qatar’s relations with Israel were “good”. Qatar quickly denied the comments, but the incident revived suspicions that exploded into the open three years when several Gulf nations pulled their ambassadors from Qatar over similar worries about its politics.