Saudi press predicts sixth coup in Qatar

CAIRO – 3 June 2017: The Qatari emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, arrived in Kuwait for talks with his counterpart Sheikh Sabah on Wednesday to bring an end to the latest crisis that erupted between the emirate and Gulf Cooperation Council’s (GCC) two most powerful members.

Tensions between Qatar and its two Gulf neighbors Saudi Arabia and UAE over the past week have escalated after official Qatari websites quoted Tamim saying Iran is a force for stability in the region and threatened to withdraw ambassadors from a range of Middle Eastern countries including Saudi Arabia.

Qatar claimed its official websites had been hacked.

A number of Arab news agencies, however, pointed out that some of the remarks appeared on Qatari state broadcasting before getting disclaimed.

Kuwaiti diplomatic sources, according to Khaleej Times, said Tamim’s visit to Kuwait aims to solicit Kuwait's mediation in repairing bruised relationship with fellow GCC states over its stance on Iran's role in the region and its support to extremist groups.

Saudi newspapers have addressed the visit and considered it a “failed attempt” to mend rifts between Qatar and Gulf states.

Arabic Saudi Arabian daily Okaz reported, “Qatar is facing a dilemma of either reconsidering its stance, or keeping Iran and terrorist groups as allies, a choice which Gulf allies, Arab and Westerners refuse.

According to Okaz, some Saudi accounts on Twitter were revealed to be Qatari trolls and bots accounts pretending to be Saudi; these accounts used to defend and advocate the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and its leaders for a long while.

The same accounts started defending Qatar and its Emir after the disowned quotes were broadcast.

The pro-government Saudi daily newspaper, Al-Riyadh, envisaged a sixth coup, following five previous coups that have been replacing Doha leaders since 1971, through one of two scenarios.

The first scenario that the Saudi daily foresaw is that, after four years, if Tamim fails to accrue allies then Ahmed bin Ali’s family would pose a serious threat to his throne.
Sheikh Ahmad bin Ali Al Thani, was the Emir of Qatar who ruled from 1960 to 1972. He was deposed in February 1972 by his cousin, Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani; making Bin Ali’s family Qatar’s rightful heir.

An official statement by Ahmed Bin Ali’s family disowned Tamim’s statements and sent their apology to the people of Saudi Arabia.

The other scenario is that Tamim’s father, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, might “avenge” the dignity that his son has stripped from him.

The newspaper added that the statement by Al-Thani family indicates how deep the crack between the Qatari royal family reached, pointing out that the family announced that they are fed-up with Tamim’s policies, and that Qatar might be on the edge of another coup.