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Explained: Here's why Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain & Egypt cut ties with Qatar

Qatar has called the decision of the countries to cut ties with it as unjustified.

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Four nations cut diplomatic ties with Qatar early on Monday morning, further deepening a rift among Gulf Arab nations over that country's alleged support for Islamist groups and its relations with Iran.

Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates all announced they would withdraw their diplomatic staff from Qatar, a gas-rich nation that will host the 2022 FIFA World Cup and is home to a major US military base.

All the nations also said they planned to cut air and sea traffic. Saudi Arabia said it also would shut its land border with Qatar, effectively cutting off the country from the rest of the Arabian Peninsula.

Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways said it would suspend flights to Qatar, since the United Arab Emirates was among major Gulf states to sever ties with Doha in an unprecedented regional crisis. Etihad operates four return flights to Doha daily, and said the measure will be in place "until further notice".

Other carriers from the three Gulf countries, including Dubai's Emirates, are likely to announce similar measures.

How the rift began

The decision comes after Qatar alleged in late May that hackers took over the site of its state-run news agency and published what it called fake comments from its ruling emir about Iran and Israel. Its Gulf Arab neighbours responded with anger, blocking Qatari-based media, including the Doha-based satellite news network Al-Jazeera.​

Even before Monday, Qatar had appeared unperturbed by the growing tensions.

On May 27, Qatar's ruling emir, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, called Iranian President Hasan Rouhani to congratulate him on his re-election.

The call was a clear, public rebuttal of Saudi Arabia's efforts to force Qatar to fall in line against the Shiite- ruled nation, which the Sunni kingdom sees as its No. 1 enemy and a threat to regional stability. Qatar shares a massive offshore gas field with the Islamic Republic.

Qatar is also home to the sprawling al-Udeid Air Base, which is home to the US military's Central Command and some 10,000 American troops. It wasn't clear if the decision would affect American military operations. Central Command officials and the Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

What happened in the past?

Qatar long has faced criticism from its Arab neighbours over its support of Islamists. The chief worry among them is the Muslim Brotherhood, a Sunni Islamist political group outlawed by both Saudi Arabia and the UAE as it challenges the nations' hereditary rule.

Gulf countries led by Saudi Arabia fell out with Qatar over its backing of then-Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, a Brotherhood member.

In March 2014, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain recalled their ambassadors from Qatar over the rift.

Eight months later, they returned their ambassadors as Qatar forced some Brotherhood members to leave the country and quieted others. However, the 2014 crisis did not see a land and sea blockade as threatened now.

In the time since, Qatar repeatedly and strongly denied it funds extremist groups. However, it remains a key financial patron of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and has been the home of exiled Hamas official Khaled Mashaal since 2012.

Western officials also have accused Qatar of allowing or even encouraging funding of Sunni extremists like al-Qaida's branch in Syria, once known as the Nusra Front.

Who Said What

Saudi Arabia said it took the decision to cut diplomatic ties due to Qatar's "embrace of various terrorist and sectarian groups aimed at destabilising the region" including the Muslim Brotherhood, al-Qaida, the Islamic State group and groups supported by Iran in the kingdom's restive eastern province of Qatif.

Egypt accused Qatar of taking an "antagonist approach" toward Egypt and said "all attempts to stop it from supporting terrorist groups failed." The tiny island nation of Bahrain blamed Qatar's "media incitement, support for armed terrorist activities and funding linked to Iranian groups to carry out sabotage and spreading chaos in Bahrain" for its decision.

Bahrain said it cut diplomatic relations with Qatar, accusing its fellow Gulf Arab state of backing terrorism and interfering in Bahrain's internal affairs.

A brief statement on the official Bahrain news agency said Bahrain, a close ally of Saudi Arabia, was also cutting air and sea contact with Qatar and was giving its citizens in Qatar 14 days to leave.

The United Arab Emirates cut the ties and gave diplomats 48 hours to leave the country, citing their 'support, funding and embrace of terrorist, extremist and sectarian organisations', state news agency WAM said.

What Qatar has to say

Qatar said it regretted a coordinated decision by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain to cut diplomatic relations on Monday over Doha's alleged support for terrorism, according to Qatar-based al Jazeera TV.

"The measures are unjustified and are based on claims and allegations that have no basis in fact," the network quoted the foreign ministry as saying.

Qatar said the decisions would "not affect the normal lives of citizens and residents".

Iran's reaction

A senior Iranian official said that the decision by some Gulf Arab states and Egypt to sever diplomatic ties with Qatar would not help end the crisis in the Middle East.

"The era of cutting diplomatic ties and closing borders ... is not a way to resolve crisis ... As I said before, aggression and occupation will have no result but instability," Hamid Aboutalebi, deputy chief of staff of Iran's President Hassan Rouhani, tweeted on Monday. 

What is Pakistan's stand?

Pakistan has no immediate plans to cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, a spokesman for the South Asian nation's foreign ministry said.

The country "has no such plans. At the moment there is nothing on Qatar issue, (we) will issue a statement if some development takes place," the spokesman, Nafees Zakaria.

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