Saudi completely closes handiest land border with Qatar

Saudi Arabia has completely closed its handiest land border with Qatar, which remains to be blockaded by the dominion and a few of its various Gulf neighbours.

Constant with a letter issued by Saudi Arabia’s customs directorate on Tuesday, the Salwa border gate had been shut-off completely since Monday night.

The letter stated Saudi officials ordered the closure.

The switch comes as an ongoing diplomatic crisis nears eight months.

The gate used to be first closed two weeks after Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, and Bahrain prick diplomatic and trade ties with Qatar on June 5, accusing it of financing « terrorism » and affirming too shut a relationship with their arch-rival, Iran. Doha denies the allegations.

The border used to be then reopened for a length of two weeks in August for pilgrims who wished to impress the annual Hajj pilgrimage to switch by. 

At the time, Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani welcomed the switch, but stated it used to be a « politically-motivated resolution ».

Although officially neatly obtained by Qatar, the switch had sparked outrage from Qatari residents on social media, who demanded the siege be lifted entirely.

The Arab quartet blocked relate air and land transport to and from Qatar and closed their airspace to all Qatar Airways flights after severing ties with Qatar.

Earlier this month, the annual regional summit of the six GCC international locations used to be prick quick, failing to resolve the continuing crisis. 

As piece of the blockade, the Saudi-led crew moreover requested all Qatari nationals to move their international locations, but Doha did not impose similar restrictions on the four Arab international locations.