From
Al-Jazeera:
BREAKING Saudi Arabia, Qatar ‘agree to open airspace, land and sea border’ Kuwait foreign ministry announces Saudi Arabia would open its airspace, land and sea borders starting Monday evening.
4 Jan 2021
Saudi Arabia, Qatar agree to open airspace, land and sea border, Kuwait’s foreign ministry announced on Monday.
The state-run Kuwait News Agency reported the announcement, saying that Saudi Arabia would open its airspace, land and sea borders starting Monday evening.
In June 2017, the blockading countries – Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt – accused Qatar, among other things, of supporting terrorism and being too close to Iran and severed economic and diplomatic ties.
The four countries imposed a land, sea and air blockade on Qatar.
Qatar has repeatedly denied the allegations and said there was “no legitimate justification” for the severance of relations.
Kuwait has been mediating between Qatar and four Arab states.
“This is very significant in the sense that it is paving the way to the announcement,” Al Jazeera’s Jamal al-Shayyal said.
“One of the pre-conditions the Qataris had was that it made no sense to discuss or sign an agreement as long as it remained under an unjust and illegal blockade.”
Last month, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) said Qatar’s emir was invited to the bloc’s summit meeting next week in Saudi Arabia amid efforts to heal the rifts.
Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani received a formal invitation from Saudi King Salman to the January 5 summit meeting of the six-nation GCC.
More to follow