RIYADH – Six Arab nations including Saudi Arabia and Egypt together with Maldives yesterday cut ties with Qatar, accusing it of supporting extremism, in the biggest diplomatic crisis to hit the region in years.

Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen joined Saudi Arabia and Egypt in severing relations with gas-rich Qatar, with Riyadh accusing Doha of supporting groups, including some backed by Iran, “that aim to destabilize the region.”

Libya’s eastern-based government has followed regional allies in cutting diplomatic ties with Qatar, its foreign minister, Mohamed Dayri, said yesterday.

The government, which sits in the eastern city of Bayda, has little authority within Libya. It is appointed by a parliament that also sits in the east and is aligned with powerful military commander Khalifa Haftar. They have spurned a UN-backed, internationally recognized government in the capital Tripoli.

The eastern-based government’s announcement came after Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain severed ties with Qatar, accusing it of supporting terrorism.

Dayri gave no immediate explanation for the Libyan move.

Qatar reacted with fury, denying any support for extremists and accusing its Gulf neighbors of seeking to put the country under “guardianship.”

The crisis was likely to have wide-ranging consequences, not just for Qatar and its citizens but around the Middle East and for Western interests.

Qatar hosts the largest US airbase in the region, which is crucial to operations against Islamic State group jihadists, and is set to host the 2022

football World Cup.

Yesterday’s announcement came less than a month after US President Donald Trump visited Saudi Arabia to cement ties with Riyadh and called for a united

front among Muslim countries against extremism.

It also followed weeks of rising tensions between Doha and its neighbors, including Qatari accusations of a concerted media campaign against the country and the alleged hacking of the Qatar News Agency.

Qatar slams ‘baseless claims’

The Gulf states and Egypt said they were severing diplomatic ties and closing transport links with Qatar, which relies heavily on imports from its neighbors.

The Gulf states banned their citizens from traveling to Qatar and ordered Qatari citizens to leave within 14 days.

Saudi Arabia also closed its borders with Qatar, effectively blocking food and other supplies exported by land to Qatar.

Local media in Qatar reported there was already some panic buying by people stocking up on food.

Riyadh said in a statement the moves aimed to “protect its national security from the dangers of terrorism and extremism.”

The measures were the result of “gross violations committed by authorities in Qatar,” Riyadh said, accusing Doha of harboring “terrorist and sectarian

groups that aim to destabilize the region, including the Muslim Brotherhood, Daesh (IS) and Al-Qaeda.”

Gulf states have for years accused Qatar of supporting extremist groups, in particular the Muslim Brotherhood, the world’s oldest Islamist organization.

Riyadh in its statement yesterday also accused Doha of supporting Iran-backed “terrorist activities” in Saudi Arabia’s Shiite-dominated area of Qatif, as well as in Bahrain, both of which have seen Shiite unrest over the past six years.

Any suggestion that Qatar is backing the agenda of Shiite-dominated Iran – Sunni Saudi Arabia’s regional arch-rival – is especially sensitive, particularly in the wake of Trump’s comments last month.

Qatar has consistently denied any support for extremists or Iran and did so again after testerday’s move by its neighbors.

“The measures are unjustified and are based on false and baseless claims,” the Qatari foreign ministry said in a statement.

“The aim is clear, and it is to impose guardianship on the state,” it said, insisting authorities would “take all measures necessary... to foil attempts to affect or harm Qatar’s society and economy.”

Flights cancelled

The economic consequences were already emerging, with UAE carriers Emirates, Etihad, flydubai and Air Arabia, as well as Saudi Airlines, announcing the suspension of all flights to and from Qatar as of Tuesday

morning.

Qatar Airways – one of the region’s busiest airlines – said it had suspended all flights to Saudi Arabia with immediate effect, at least until the

end of Monday. – AFP