Qatar emir warns against military action in dispute
DUBAI: Qatar’s emir has warned against any military confrontation over the ongoing diplomatic dispute between his country and four other Arab nations, saying it would plunge the region into chaos.
Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani said US President Donald Trump has offered to host a meeting between Qatar and its opponents — Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and UAE — to end the crisis between the American allies.
Speaking to CBS’s 60 Minutes news programme, Sheikh Tamim said so far, however, there’s been no response from the boycotting nations. “It was supposed to be very soon, this meeting,” he said.
The threat of a military confrontation loomed in the initial days following the start of boycott on June 5. Arabic media in the boycotting nations suggested the need for a “Peninsula Shield” operation —military arm of the Gulf Cooperation Council — though government officials downplayed the idea. Saudi and UAE forces attached to Peninsula Shield previously deployed into Bahrain to put down its 2011 Arab Spring protests.
When meeting in Washington with Trump in September, Kuwaiti emir Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah said that mediation by the American president helped avoid any violence.
“Thank God, now, what is important is that we have stopped any military action,” said Sheikh Sabah, who himself has been trying to mediate the dispute.
In the 60 Minutes interview, Sheikh Tamim acknowledged the alleged military threat. “I’m fearful that if anything happens, if any military act happens, this region will be in chaos,” he said.
His comments drew immediate criticism from Emirati minister of state for international affairs Anwar Gargash.
“To go to the Western media and attack Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates at this point is desperate,” Gargash tweeted. Qatar “should accept its isolation without sniveling and do what it must.”