Trump backs Saudi-led efforts to isolate Qatar

JEDDAH: A handout picture shows Saudi's King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud and Kuwait's Amir HH Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah arriving for a meeting in the Red Sea city of Jeddah. Kuwait Amir travelled to Saudi Arabia for talks aimed at resolving the crisis between Qatar and its Gulf neighbors. - AFP

DUBAI: Kuwait yesterday began mediating between Qatar and the Arab nations that cut ties to the energy-rich aviation hub, though US President Donald Trump appeared to backing those isolating Qatar over allegations it supports terror groups and its relations with Iran. Qatar long has denied funding extremists and its foreign minister struck a defiant tone in interviews yesterday, even after worried residents had picked through grocery stores in its capital, Doha.

Trump threw his weight behind efforts to isolate Qatar yesterday, backing Saudi Arabia and its allies after they cut ties with Doha. In a surprise move against a key US ally, Trump suggested Qatar-home to the largest American airbase in the Middle East-was funding extremism as he tacitly backed the diplomatic blockade of the emirate.

"So good to see the Saudi Arabia visit with the King and 50 countries already paying off," Trump said in a morning tweet, in reference to his trip to Riyadh last month. "They said they would take a hard line on funding... extremism, and all reference was pointing to Qatar. Perhaps this will be the beginning of the end to the horror of terrorism!" Trump's broadside came as Kuwait's ruler flew to Saudi Arabia in a bid to resolve the worst diplomatic crisis to hit the Arab world in years.

Qatar relies heavily on food imports, especially those coming over its border with Saudi Arabia, and those Arab nations opposing it have cut off their land, sea and air routes into the country. "On this scale, it's unprecedented," said Hatoon Al-Fassi, a Saudi historian of Gulf Affairs and Women's Studies at Qatar University. The biggest diplomatic crisis in the Gulf since the 1991 US-led war against Iraq pits  several nations against Qatar, which is home to some 10,000 American troops and a major US military  base.

While the US military has said it wouldn't change its posture at Qatar's Al-Udeid Air Base, Trump wrote a series of tweets calling into question his commitment to the peninsular nation. "During my recent trip to the Middle East I stated that there can no longer be funding of Radical Ideology," he tweeted. "Leaders pointed to Qatar - look!" He later tweeted: "Perhaps this will be the beginning of the end to the horror of terrorism!"

Trump, who traveled to Saudi Arabia for a recent conference of Arab nations, had told Qatar's ruler at the time that "we've been friends now for a long time." Qatari officials declined to immediately comment. In an earlier interview with Doha-based satellite news network Al-Jazeera, Foreign Minister  Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said Kuwait's ruler had asked Qatar's Emir to hold off on  giving a speech about the crisis late Monday night.

Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani "received a call from the Amir of Kuwait asking him to postpone it in order to give time to solve the crisis," Sheikh Mohammed said. Still, the minister struck a defiant tone, rejecting those "trying to impose their will on Qatar or intervene in its internal affairs." The state-run Kuwait News Agency reported Kuwaiti ruler HH Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al Sabah spoke with Qatar's Emir Monday evening and urged him to give a chance to efforts that could ease tensions.

The call came after a senior Saudi royal arrived in Kuwait with a message from the Saudi king. An Omani diplomat traveled to Qatar on Monday. Sheikh Sabah left yesterday night for Saudi Arabia. Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates announced Monday they would cut diplomatic ties with Qatar. Yemen's internationally backed government, which has lost the capital and large portions of the war-torn country, also cut relations with Qatar, as did the Maldives and one of conflict-ridden Libya's competing governments.

Soccer's governing body FIFA has said it remains in regular contact with Qatar, which will host the 2022 World Cup. Qatar just finished one of the stadiums that will host the tournament, though others have yet to be built.

Saudi Arabia, the powerhouse among those cutting ties to Qatar, said it did so due to the country's "embrace of various terrorist and sectarian groups aimed at destabilizing the region," including the Muslim Brotherhood, Al-Qaeda, the Islamic State group and militants supported by Iran in the kingdom's restive Eastern Province.

Qatar long has denied funding extremists, though Western officials have accused it of allowing or even encouraging funding of Sunni extremists like al-Qaida's branch in Syria, once known as the Nusra Front. The Gulf countries ordered their citizens out of Qatar and gave Qataris abroad 14 days to return home to their peninsular nation, whose only land border is with Saudi Arabia. The countries also said they would eject Qatar's diplomats. The nations also cut air and sea traffic between them and Qatar. Trucks carrying food have begun lining up on the Saudi side of the border, apparently stranded.

Qatar Airways, one of the region's major long-haul carriers, has suspended all flights to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain until further notice. On its website, the carrier said the suspension of its flights took effect yesterday and customers are being offered a refund. Saudi Arabia meanwhile said yesterday it revoked Qatar Airways' operating licenses and closed the airline's offices in the kingdom. The Saudi ports authority said Qatari-flagged shipping vessels are barred from docking. It said it ordered shipping agents not to receive any vessels owned by Qatari companies or Qatari nationals and not to unload any goods from Qatar.

The air route between Doha and Dubai is popular among business travelers and both are major transit hubs for travelers between Asia and Europe. FlightRadar24, a popular airplane tracking website, said Qatar Airways flights already had started to be affected, with flights to Europe being rerouted through Iran and Turkey. The number of flights in Iran's airspace has jumped from 950 a day to 1,100, Iran airports company head Rahmatollah Mahabadi told the state-run IRNA news agency. He said that was a direct result of Qatar Airways flights.- AP