Donald Trump and the Emir of Qatar sat down together in Riyadh. Then on Monday Qatar’s Persian Gulf neighbours – Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain – plus Egypt and smaller nations severed diplomatic ties with Qatar, claiming it supports terrorists across the region. Here is what you need to know.
Aren’t Qatar and Saudi Arabia on the same side?
You could certainly be forgiven for thinking so. Both countries are fabulously wealthy absolute monarchies built on petrodollars, both have strong relations with the United States and other Western countries and both are ruled by Arab dynasties which, like the majority of their citizens, are conservative Sunni Muslims. When Saudi Arabia announced its Operation Decisive Storm intervention in Yemen in 2015, Qatar was one of the 33 Asian and African allies it named in its coalition.
Read the full article by Maher Mughrabi at the Sydney Morning Herald.