Qatari embargo set to end amid detente with Saudi bloc

The blockade of Qatar is set to end after Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) all agreed to reopen their respective land and sea borders as well as airspace to Qatar. The Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry told the official Kuna news agency the embargo, which has been in place since June 2017, would end during the evening of January 4 ahead of a Gulf Cooperation Council summit in Saudi Arabia. An official, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, whom US President Donald Trump had assigned to work on the dispute, had helped negotiate the deal. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt imposed the diplomatic, trade, and travel embargo on Qatar accusing it of supporting terrorism through its ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and of siding with regional rival Iran. Qatar had in turn rejected the accusations and the boycott on the grounds they undermined its sovereignty. In July 2020, Qatar Airways launched a USD5 billion arbitration claim against the blockading countries, while in November it was granted court standing in the UK to sue Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV station for its animations showing Qatar Airways aircraft allegedly being shot down by an unmarked fighter jet. As part of the detente agreement that will be signed during the GCC meeting on Tuesday, January 5, Qatar has reportedly agreed not to pursue lawsuits related to the blockade. With restrictions gone, Qatar Airways (QR, Doha Hamad Int’l) will once more be allowed to transit each of the countries’ flight information regions thereby removing the need for long circuitous flight paths around the Arabian Peninsula when heading to Africa and Europe.