Saudi Arabia shuts Al-Jazeera office hours after severing ties with Qatar

Earlier on Monday, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) suspended ties with Qatar after accusing the nation of supporting ‘terrorism’ and Islamic groups. (Source: File photo)

Hours after several Gulf states severed ties with Qatar on Monday, Saudi Arabia shut the local office of Qatar’s Al-Jazeera global news channel. “The Ministry of Information closed the office of the Al-Jazeera channel and withdrew the licence it was granted,” the official Saudi Press Agency reported.

Earlier on Monday, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) suspended ties with Qatar after accusing the nation of supporting ‘terrorism’ and Islamic groups. The dispute between Qatar and its neighbouring countries began after the former had alleged in May that hackers took over its state-run news agency and published fake comments from its ruling Emir regarding Iran and Israel. The other four countries had, at the time, responded by blocking all Qatari-based media, including Al-Jazeera.

-with AFP inputs