Qatari PM sets out for Riyadh for Arab League summit

DOHA

Qatari Prime Minister Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani left Doha for Saudi Arabia on Thursday to attend an Arab League Summit in Mecca, the Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported.

Al Thani will also attend emergency summits of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), according to the same source.

His visit to Saudi Arabia is the first of its kind by a high-ranking Qatari official since the eruption in 2017 of an ongoing crisis in inter-Arab relations.

In mid-2017, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Egypt all abruptly severed ties with Doha, accusing it of supporting terrorist groups -- an allegation Qatar denies.

The emergency summits in Mecca are being convened to discuss what Riyadh describes as “the Iranian threat to the region”.

In early May, the UAE claimed that four vessels -- including two oil tankers -- had been targeted in “sabotage attacks” near its territorial waters.

Days later, Saudi Arabia said that armed drones had attacked two pumping stations on the East-West Pipeline, which carries oil from the kingdom’s Eastern Province to the Port of Yanbu.

Riyadh has since accused Yemen’s Houthi rebel group, which is known to be close to Iran, for the alleged drone attack.