The crisis in Qatar intensified on Wednesday as various nations moved to isolate the country.
Jordan downgraded diplomatic relations with the isolated emirate, the Turkish parliament approved moving troops to its base in Qatar, Saudi Arabia published a list of conditions Qatar must meet, the United Arab Emirates threatened to punish its own citizens for expressions of sympathy toward Qatar, and American intelligence analysts voiced suspicions that Russian hackers touched off the crisis by hijacking a Qatari state media website.
On the latter point, CNN reported on Wednesday that U.S. investigators believe the Qatar News Agency website was hacked two weeks ago by Russian provocateurs who posted a false news story about inflammatory remarks from Emir Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.
CNN’s sources portrayed this as part of Russia’s cyber campaign to sow dissent between the United States and its allies, although they were unclear about whether the hack was perpetrated by criminal organizations or the Russian security services.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov immediately dismissed the CNN story as fake news and “another lie that was published” by American media organizations relying upon “unnamed sources in unnamed agencies.”
The Qataris said their own investigation of the incident was ongoing in collaboration with the FBI and the U.K. National Crime Agency, although Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani was adamant that the current crisis was “started based on fabricated news being wedged and being inserted in our national news agency.”
Few would argue that the crisis was entirely caused by angry reactions to the Emir’s allegedly falsified remarks. Tensions have been growing between Qatar and other Sunni nations for a long time. On Wednesday morning, President Donald Trump tweeted that he was told about Qatar’s support for extremists during his trip to the Middle East:
Anwar Gargash, foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates, stressed to CNN that action against Qatar has been a long time to coming and was not taken lightly by the other Gulf states.
Gargash said the other states are “fed up with this sort of duplicity” from Qatar, citing its “very, very huge logistical, financial support for extremist groups, support also for some terrorist organizations such as al-Nusra and some organizations in Libya and in our area, such as the Sinai and other areas.” Al-Nusra or the Nusra Front is al-Qaeda’s operation in Syria, which changed its name some time ago to minimize its ties to the global terrorist network.
“This is really at the crux of the issue. There is no more trust,” said Gargash. “It is time for cooler heads to restructure Qatar’s approach on foreign policy.”
Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, Adel al-Jubeir, had some ideas about how Qatar could rebuild the trust of the other Sunni nations and end the blockade.
“We want to see Qatar implement the promises it made a few years back with regard to its support of extremist groups, to its hostile media and interference in affairs of other countries. Nobody wants to hurt Qatar. It has to choose whether it must move in one direction or another direction. We took this step with great pain so that it understands that these policies are not sustainable and must change,” said Jubeir, as quoted by Qatar-based Al-Jazeera, which finds its audience somewhat reduced as the other Gulf states ban its transmissions and block its website.
Jubeir’s demands of Qatar did not take the form of a specific policy list, but he said the isolated emirate must “implement the promises it made a few years back with regard to its support of extremist groups, to its hostile media and interference in affairs of other countries.”
More specifically, he blasted Qatar for “undermining the Palestinian Authority and Egypt in its support of Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.”
“We believe that common sense and logic will convince Qatar to take the right steps. The decisions that were made were very strong and will have a fairly large cost on Qatar and we do not believe that Qataris want to sustain those costs,” he predicted.
Hamas said it was “shocked” by Saudi Arabia’s allegations, calling Jubeir’s remarks “a shock for our Palestinian people and the Arab and Islamic nations.”
Of course, being Hamas, the terror gang added that Israel would “exploit these statements to carry out more violations against the Palestinian people.”
Jordan entered the fray on Wednesday by revoking Al-Jazeera’s license to broadcast and downgrading its diplomatic relationship with Qatar. The Qatari ambassador was asked to leave the country as part of this “reduced” relationship, but the embassy’s charge d’affaires will be allowed to remain and represent Qatar to Jordan.
“The government hopes that Arab countries would overcome this regrettable stage and resolve the crisis to ensure that Arab countries cooperate to build a better future for their people,” said Jordan’s Minister of State for Media Affairs, Mohammad Momani.
On the other end of the anti-Qatar spectrum, the United Arab Emirates threatened its own citizens with up to 15 years in prison for merely “publishing expressions of sympathy towards Doha,” as Reuters puts it.
“Strict and firm action will be taken against anyone who shows sympathy or any form of bias towards Qatar, or against anyone who objects to the position of the United Arab Emirates, whether it be through the means of social media, or any type of written, visual or verbal form,” warned UAE Attorney General Hamad Saif al-Shamsi. He added that a fine equivalent to about $136,000 U.S. could also be slapped on offenders.
However, the UAE slightly relented on its oil blockade of Qatar, quietly letting it be known on Wednesday that non-Qatari-flagged oil tankers would be allowed to use the port at Abu Dhabi.
Qatar, which is oil-rich but heavily dependent on imports for vital necessities like food, has been looking to Turkey and Iran for a lifeline as the crisis unfolds. On Wednesday, the Turkish parliament fast-tracked and quickly approved a draft bill allowing for its troops to be deployed to a Turkish base in Qatar, along with food and emergency supplies.
Kamal Alam of the RUSI think-tank warned Middle East Eye that Turkey’s move could presage the dissolution of the Saudi coalition: “Maybe, if the situation continues, we might see the first steps of replacing U.S. protection in Qatar for Turkish protection.”
The Financial Times (FT) goes further and says Turkey’s move could put it on a “collision course” with Saudi Arabia, even though the number of Turkish troops that could ship out to Qatar is very small, numbering in the hundreds.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is quoted saying, “It will not contribute to solving any problem to try and isolate in this way Qatar, which we know for sure has fought very effectively against terrorist groups.”
FT notes that while Turkey is generally striving to be seen as neutral in the Qatar imbroglio, a Turkish official said Ankara “will not allow Qatar to be beaten up.” According to the Financial Times piece, some Qataris are afraid the Saudis will sponsor a coup against the emir or even launch a military operation against Qatar if tensions continue to escalate.
Erdogan did not sound neutral in his remarks from Ankara on Wednesday.
“I’d like to say that we don’t find sanctions against Qatar right,” the Turkish president said. “The most appropriate way for the Gulf Cooperation Council countries to solve their internal issues is through dialogue. In this regard, we admire Qatar’s constructive and cool-headed approach.”
Erdogan expressed gratitude for Qatar’s support for his government during last July’s coup attempt and declared, “We are ready to do everything to resolve other countries’ problems with Qatar.”