Qatar continues to finance extremists: Al Jubeir

Cairo: Qatar has continued to support terrorist and militant groups despite a pledge to stop doing this, a Saudi minister has said, amid a bitter diplomatic row between the two neighbours.

“Qatar continues to finance extremists and terrorists, and interfere in others’ internal affairs,” Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel Al Jubeir added in New York on the sidelines of the annual General Assembly meetings.

In 2017, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt broke off diplomatic, transportation and trade ties with Qatar over its support for terrorism and sheltering wanted militants.

Saudi television Al Arabiya also quoted Al Jubeir as saying that Qatar has not observed a 2014 pact it signed in the Saudi capital to mend its ways.

“They have not implemented it over five years. And we said this is enough,” the official said.

Al Jubeir also accused Qatar of providing millions of dollars for Iran-allied militias in Lebanon and Iraq.

The anti-Qatar quartet presented a list of demands to Doha to end the dispute.

They included stopping support for radical groups, downgrading ties with Iran and shutting down the Qatari Al Jazeera television network seen as a mouthpiece of the banned Muslim Brotherhood.

Doha rejected the demands, saying they infringed its sovereignty.

Earlier this month, Saudi Arabia said that complying with the demands is key to solving the crisis.

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