Saudis and Allies Preparing List of “Grievances” Against Qatar

Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister says a list of “grievances” involving Qatar is being drawn up and will be presented to the Arab neighbor shortly.

Speaking in London on Friday, Adel al-Jubeir called on Qatar to respond to what he claimed were international and regional calls for it to halt its support for “extremism and terrorism”, Aljazeera reported.

“I would not call them demands. I would say it is a list of grievances that need to be addressed and that the Qataris need to fix,” he said.

Jubeir did not detail what complaints could be made, but added that they will be presented “very soon”.

Four Arab states-Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt-severed diplomatic and trade relations with Qatar on June 5, accusing it of supporting “extremism” and their regional rival Iran.

They later issued a list of 59 people and 12 groups with links to Qatar, alleging that they have ties to “terrorists”.

The list included several prominent Qatari charities that carry out life-saving work across the Middle East and elsewhere, including in Syria, Yemen, Sudan and Palestine.

The Qatari government has repeatedly rejected the allegations of supporting individuals and groups blacklisted as “terrorists” as “baseless”.

It said that it has been leading the region in attacking what it called the roots of “terrorism” by giving young people hope through jobs, educating hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees and funding community programs to challenge the agendas of armed groups.

The Saudi-led bloc of nations cut off sea and air links with Qatar, and ordered Qatari nationals to leave their countries within 14 days.

They also urged their citizens to return to their respective countries, disrupting the lives of thousands in the region and restricting their freedom of movement.