Egyptian delegate to Arab League also accused Qatar of breaking the organisation’s consensus over Cairo’s air strikes against Isis in Libya

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Qatar has recalled its ambassador to Cairo in protest against comments made by an Egyptian official over his country’s decision to carry out air strikes in neighbouring Libya.



The spat marks a new flare-up in tensions between the wealthy Gulf state and Egypt under the leadership of Abdel Fatah al-Sisi.

Qatar said in a brief statement that it was withdrawing the envoy “for consultations” in response to comments made by the Egyptian delegate to the Arab League, Tarek Adel.

The Egyptian state news agency, MENA, quoted Adel as saying that Arab League permanent representatives expressed support for Egypt’s air strikes this week against Islamic State (Isis) militants in Libya as part of its right to self-defence. It added that only Qatar “deviated” from the consensus, and Adel accused Qatar of continuously taking positions against Egypt.

“According to our reading in Egypt of the Qatari reservation, it is evident that Qatar is revealing its position that it is supportive of terrorism,” he said, according to the news agency.

Egypt’s air strikes followed the posting of an online video showing the beheadings of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians by militants loyal to Isis in Libya.

Qatar is a member of the US-led coalition conducting air strikes against Isis militants in Iraq and Syria.

The Qatari foreign ministry’s director of Arab affairs, Saad bin Ali al-Mohannadi, said in a separate statement carried by the official Qatar News Agency that the country strongly condemned the killing of the 21 Egyptians but denounced what he called Adel’s “tense statement, which confuses the need to combat terrorism and the brutal killing and burning of civilians.”

Al-Mohannadi added that Qatar supported the will of the Egyptian people and the country’s stability, but had reservations about Egypt’s decision to take unilateral military action.

Relations between Cairo and Doha have been strained since Sisi led the military’s overthrow of Egypt’s Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi, in July 2013. Qatar was a strong supporter of Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood group.