Qatar Airways Grounds Flights After Diplomatic Concerns Over Fake News, Terrorism
More than 70 flights were grounded Tuesday going to and from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt after the Arab countries cut diplomatic ties and closed their airspace to Qatar after accusing the country of supporting terrorism, according to reports. A majority of the flights belonged to Qatar Airways.
On Monday, Qatar Airways issued a statement that passengers holding a confirmed ticket to any of the four Arab nations between June 5 and July 6 are permitted to rebook their flights up to 30 days after their current departure date.
Other airlines affected include Dubai's Emirates, Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways, Saudi Arabia's Saudia, and Bahrain's Gulf Air, which all canceled flights to and from Doha, the capital of Qatar.
Read: Why Did Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain And Egypt Boycott Qatar?
The source of the diplomatic tension comes after a speech appeared on the Qatari News Agency (QNA), which quoted Sheikh bin Tamim Al Thani, the emir of Qatar. The speech told a military ceremony that Iran was an "Islamic power that cannot be ignored," and there were "tensions" with the United States.
Saudi Arabia's Okaz newspaper accused Qatar of "breaking ranks" and choosing to "side with the enemies of the nation." On Monday, the tensions escalated and six countries — Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Yemen, Libya's eastern-based government and the Maldives — cut diplomatic ties with Qatar.
Qatar has called the accusations "unjustified," “baseless,” and the Government Communications Office director said the QNA website "has been hacked by an unknown entity" and "a false statement attributed to His Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani has been published.”
Online footage showed clips of Sheikh Tamim at the ceremony with a scrolling ticker at the bottom of the screen that had the alleged false remarks, according to NBC. They included calling Hamas "the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people," as well as saying Qatar had "strong relations" with Iran and the U.S.
The hackers even took control of the Qatar News Agency’s Twitter feed, using it to post comments allegedly quoting the country’s foreign minister accusing other Arab nations of being behind a plot to put down Qatar. The tweets were later deleted, and Qatari authorities insisted that they had been targeted by malicious hackers.
"The statement published has no basis whatsoever, and the competent authorities in the State of Qatar will hold all those [involved] accountable," read the statement.
This is not the first time that Arab countries have cut ties with Qatar. Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, last cut ties with Qatar in 2014, withdrawing their ambassadors from the country for nine months. This time, the severing of ties goes markedly further.
President Trump took to Twitter on Tuesday morning seemingly in support of the Arab countries decision to isolate Qatar. Trump recently came back from an overseas trip which featured a speech in Saudi Arabia on the need to isolate Iran.
"During my recent trip to the Middle East I stated that there can no longer be funding of Radical Ideology. Leaders pointed to Qatar - look!" he tweeted.
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