Stand-off at Arab League as Qatar praises Iran
JEDDAH: Anti-Terror Quartet (ATQ) diplomats on Tuesday lashed back at Doha’s latest “provocations” after Qatar’s state minister for foreign affairs blamed the bloc for a humanitarian crisis caused by their blockade of Qatar and praising Iran.
During a meeting of ministers at the Arab League, Sultan Saad Al-Muraikhi, Qatar’s permanent envoy to the Arab League, also challenged the quartet to present evidence on his country’s support of terrorism.
“We are advocates of peace and speak openly. We don’t work like bats at night and our decisions are issued in broad daylight,” he said. He also referred toIran as an “honorable state” for not obliging Doha to open an embassy on its soil.
The quartet of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates severed diplomatic relations and cut trade ties with Qatar in June and listed 13 demands against Qatar, including a stop to its support for terrorist groups. Qatar has denied the charges.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri criticized the Qatari envoy’s remarks as being full of “provocations and inappropriate speech that shouldn’t be used in such corridors,” and “especially in an unacceptable manner.”
He reiterated the ATQ’s charges that Doha had been “supporting terrorism” and that Egypt has the right to protect its interests and take all measures guaranteed by international law. “Egypt is acting responsibly,” Shukri said, adding that Qatar’s words “should not be said, especially in an unacceptable manner,” referring to a statement by Sultan bin Saad Al-Marikhi, Qatar’s permanent envoy to the Arab League.
Anwar Gargash, UAE state minister for foreign affairs, said that Qatar harbors tens of terrorists listed on many international terror lists.
“The situation has improved in many Arab countries ever since the four countries — Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt, also known as Anti-Terror Quartet (ATQ) — took action against Qatar,” added Gargash. “The four countries adopted those measures to protect themselves from Qatar’s activities targeting their national security.”
Gargash said any dialogue with Qatar should be based on the list of 13 demands approved by Doha.
Gargash also took issue with Turkey and Iran’s support to Qatar during the crisis, saying that “Qatar’s escape to Turkey and Iran is not solving the crisis.”
Bahrain’s undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Regional and GCC Affairs, Waheed Mubarak Sayyar, said Qatar has interfered in his country’s internal affairs on multiple occasions and “supported the overthrow of the regime in Bahrain.”
Sayyar added that “Qatar forgot all its actions threatening our stability and focused on humanitarian aspects.
Saudi Arabia’s permanent envoy to the Arab League, Ahmed Kattan, said that Qatar “killed any hope” of ending the Gulf crisis. ”The four countries will continue sticking to their demands until Doha comes to its senses,” Kattan said.
In the past, a review of nearly 50 US Treasury Department-designated senior Al-Qaeda financial facilitators revealed damning connections between the Tehran Al-Qaeda network and Qatar-linked terror operatives.
At the center of the Qatar-AlQaeda-Iran trifecta is Qatari national Salim Khalifa Al-Kuwari. He was designated by the US as a senior Al-Qaeda facilitator and financier who to this day lives and operates in Doha. Al-Kuwari, according to US intelligence, has provided hundreds of thousands of dollars in financial support to the Al-Qaeda cell in Iran headed by Muhsin Al-Fadhli.
Another reportedly crucial Qatari financier of Al-Qaeda’s terror activities is Khalifa Muhammad Turki Al-Subaiy, who also operates in Doha and was a major source of funding to a senior lieutenant to Al-Fadhli.
Al-Subaiy provided millions of dollars for nearly a decade to Al-Qaeda’s Khorasan group in Syria that was established by Al-Fadhli while he was in Iran, according to Western intelligence sources and US Treasury Department designations. Doha actively lobbied Lebanon to release of one Al-Subaiy’s key moneymen Abdul Aziz bin Khalifa Al-Attiyah after he was briefly detained in Lebanon in 2012.