Qatar to suffer until it drops support for Islamist terror groups, promises UAE minister
QATAR must end its support for Islamist terror groups that helped inspire the recent attacks on the UK if it wants crippling sanctions to be lifted, a senior Gulf minister has warned.
It should also cut ties with Iran and stop the Al Jazeera TV channel from broadcasting bulletins hostile to prowestern Arab states.
The warning came as a Gulf coalition led by Saudi Arabia imposed a ban on Qatari flights. Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Emirates have cut diplomatic ties with Qatar and closed all transport links in a move to isolate the energy-rich travel hub. Yesterday the Bahraini government announced it would fine and jail anyone expressing support for Qatar.
As diplomatic efforts intensified, Dr Sultan al-jaber, the Emirates’ minister of state, said sanctions would last as long as Qatar backed Islamist terror.
“Qatar’s support for Islamist terror groups poses a threat not just to the stability of the Gulf but for the rest of the world,” Dr al-jaber said in an exclusive interview with The Daily Telegraph. “[It] is one of the reasons we have a situation where terrible attacks are taking place around the world, such as the recent attacks in London.”
Dr al-jaber said Qatar had a long history of funding and supporting Islamist terror groups such as Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood and al-qaeda.
It backed some of the Islamist terror groups associated with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, as well as providing a safe haven for extremist preachers. And it had also publicly declared its support for Iran, which many Arab states accuse of trying to destabilise the region.
Dr al-jaber added of Qatar: “It must stop funding terrorists and harbouring radical preachers, and it must stop funding media outlets like Al Jazeera which seek to undermine the stability of Arab states like Egypt.”