Saudi Arabia and its allied states mended ties with Qatar after over three years of blockade among the Gulf States.<\/p>\n
Saudi opened it’s land and sea borders and airspace with Qatar paving for the arrival of its Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and was welcomed by crown prince Mohammed bin Salman as the two leaders gathered at a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit in the southern region of Al-Ula.<\/p>\n
The decision to open borders and the lifting of the three and a half years embargo were among the initial steps that led toward ending the diplomatic crisis.<\/p>\n
The severed relations between Saudi and its allies and Qatar that has deeply divided U.S. defense partners who recently helped brokered the resumption of foreign relations between the Arab countries together with Kuwait.<\/p>\n
The Qatar leader was in the ancient city of Al-Ula on Tuesday to attend an annual summit of Gulf Arab leaders that is expected to produce better relations between Qatar and the four Arab states<\/p>\n
Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates cut diplomatic, trade and travel ties with energy-rich Qatar in 2017. The Arab states blockaded Qatar by cutting transport and diplomatic links with it since mid-2017 over Doha’s alleged support for terrorism and for having warm ties with Iran.<\/p>\n
The recent diplomatic breakthrough between the Gulf states comes after a final push by the outgoing Trump administration and fellow Gulf state Kuwait to mediate an end to the crisis.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t until late Monday prior to the opening of the summit of Gulf Arab leaders summit that the lifting of the blockade was announced by Kuwait.<\/p>\n
The timing was touted as a move by Saudi Arabia to aid the Trump administration to broker a diplomatic win and also to warm relations with U.S. President-elect Joe Biden who will be sworn-in to office in around two weeks.<\/p>\n
Biden earlier said he will take a firmer stance with the Saudi government following the Yemen conflict among other allegations of human rights violations in the kingdom.<\/p>\n
The Gulf Cooperation Council summit in Al-Ula was also attended by US presidential adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner who also helped in the diplomatic efforts.<\/p>\n
In a statement aired over state TV, Kuwaiti Foreign Minister \u00a0Ahmad Nasser Al-Sabah said that based on Kuwaiti Emir\u2019s Sheikh Nawaf\u2019s proposal, it was agreed to open the airspace and land and sea borders between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the State of Qatar starting Monday evening.<\/p>\n
In his statement, the Kuwait foreign minister said that the Kuwaiti emir had spoken with Qatar\u2019s emir and Saudi Arabia\u2019s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and emphasized that both parties \u201cwas keen on reunification.\u201d<\/p>\n
In remarks carried by the Saudi state-run news agency on Monday, Crown Prince Mohammed said the GCC summit will be \u201cinclusive\u201d, leading the states toward \u201creunification and solidarity in facing the challenges of our region\u201d, Al-Jazeera reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n However, Saudi\u2018s Crown Prince Mohammed opened the Gulf Arab summit on Tuesday by taking aim at Iran while lauding the deal that led towards ending the three-year dispute with Qatar.<\/p>\n