Qatari citizens to leave Saudi Arabia

CAIRO – 5 June 2017: The Saudi Arabian authorities have given Qatari residents and visitors a 14-days time limit to leave its territories. Qatari citizens are not allowed to enter or transit in Saudi territories either. The measure is arranged with airlines and other transport companies.

The action is part of Saudi Arabia’s measures of cutting diplomatic and consular relations with Qatar and closing its urban, maritime, and air ports against Qatar. The same step was taken by United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt, and Yemen.

In a statement published in the Saudi Official News Agency, Saudi authorities explained that those measures aim to preserve Saudi national security, as Qatari authorities have been supporting and funding “terrorist and sectarian” groups such as the outlawed “Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamic State terrorist group, and al-Qaeda” whose goal is destabilizing the region.

The statement declared that Qatar propagates the ideas of these groups through its media, and that it provides assistance to terrorist groups funded by Iran in Qatif governorate and in Bahrain, in addition to Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Hence, the Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia in Yemen has decided to exclude Qatar from its operations, according to SPA.

The statement unveiled that Qatar has not been abiding to the agreements of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) “since 1995," and that all efforts of other members to reprimand Qatar from such hostile acts have gone in vain.