Qatar vows 'no surrender' in row with Arab states

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Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain lead a string of countries that cut ties with Qatar this week over what they say is the emirate's financing of extremist groups and its ties to Iran, Saudi Arabia's regional arch-rival.

Saudi Arabia's al Watan newspaper published what it said was a list of eight "extremist organizations" seen as working to destabilize the region from Qatar, including Qatar's al Jazeera news channel, that were targeted by Gulf Arab states. The Turkish president has also offered to mediate.

Trump initially took sides with the Saudi-led group before apparently being nudged into a more even-handed approach when US defense officials renewed praise of Doha, mindful of the major USA military base hosted by Qatar that serves, in part, as a launch-pad for strikes on Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Qatar has released an initial report into the alleged hack of its state-run news agency, an incident which helped spark a diplomatic crisis between the energy-rich country and Arab nations.

According to Thomas Lippman, a scholar from the Middle East Institute, Qatar's ongoing diplomatic dispute with neighboring Gulf countries is more of the same Gulf politics reminiscent of the 2014 incident when Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates also demanded from Qatar to cut its relations with Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Central African nation of Chad has recalled its ambassador from Qatar, joining Saudi Arabia and other nations who have moved to isolate the small Gulf country over allegations it supports terrorism.

In a statement, Chad's Foreign Ministry urged countries to use dialogue to resolve the escalating dispute.

Asked for specifics about what Arab nations wanted from Qatar, Gargash said expelling members of Hamas and other groups like the Muslim Brotherhood from Qatar was important.

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An anonymous neighbor shared that a lot of them called authorities to address the attacker before the incident in London Bridge. A 29-year-old man apprehended at the llford home was also arrested on suspicion of the preparation of terrorist acts.

The UAE has confirmed that its airspace will be closed to any planes flying to or from Qatar until further notice, the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) said on Thursday.

"Qatar has to redress its path and has to go back to all previous commitments, it has to stop media campaigns and has to distance itself from our number one enemy Iran", Sheikh Khalid said.

Qatar is heavily dependent on food imports and the crisis has led to stockpiling and shortages.

French President Emmanuel Macron has also reached out to Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Iran in a bid to kick off negotiations. "A political, economic and social aggression", a Qatari diplomat said.

File image of Qatar's foreign minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani.

The ministry did not say who it suspected carried out the attack, though it thanked the FBI and the British National Commission for Combating Crime for assisting it in its investigation.

The two held talks, though details of their discussions were not released. "As an extreme option, it could be aimed at the elimination of Qatar as an independent state and its annexation to Saudi Arabia", Yakov Kedmi, a retired high-ranking Israeli intelligence official, said.

The foreign minister of Oman met Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Kuwait's ruler, for talks.

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