TEMPO.CO, Doha - Arab Saudi, Uni Emirat Arab, dan Bahrain menarik duta besarnya dari Qatar karena Doha dianggap tidak menaati kesepakatan untuk tidak mencampuri urusan dalam negeri anggota negara Teluk.

Ketiga negara tesebut, dalam pernyataan bersama, mengatakan penarikan itu dilakukan demi kepentingan melindungi keamanan dan stabilitas negara.

Menurut laporan yang diwartakan oleh kantor berita Saudi, Rabu, 5 Februari 2014, keputusan memanggil pulang duta besar diambil karena Qatar tidak menaati pakta keamanan untuk tidak intervensi urusan dalam negeri negara-negara lainnya yang tergabung dalam Dewan Kerja Sama Teluk (GCC).

Dalam sebuah pernyataan bersama yang disampaikan ketiga negara itu, Qatar dianggap gagal menaati prinsip-prinsip sebagai anggota GCC.

Joseph Kechichian dari King Faisal Centre for Research & Islamic Studies di Riyadh, Arab Saudi, mengatakan kepada Al-Jazeera bahwa penarikan itu sepertinya bersumber dari pakta keamanan. Sebab, Qatar termasuk negara yang mendukung pakta tersebut.

"Hal ini mencerminkan ada perbedaaan politik mendasar di antara anggota GCC, terutama antara Qatar sebagai satu negara dan lima negara lainnya terhadap masalah Al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun, yang tidak hanya muncul di kawasan GCC, tapi juga di Mesir," kata Kechichian.

Hezbollah chief says he met Qatari envoy in recent days

(Reuters) - Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Tuesday he recently received an envoy from Qatar, the first contact between the two sides since divisions over the crisis in Syria severed their once strong relations.

"There is talk between us ... there was a line between us and Qatar which was reopened (recently) but up to a certain limit," Nasrallah said in an interview with Lebanon's OTV television.

He did not disclose details about the identity or seniority of the envoy but when asked by the interviewer if the meeting took place in the past few days Nasrallah said: "Yes, it is true. I cannot hide it."

Hezbollah, a Shi'ite Muslim group, had developed relatively strong ties with Qatar, especially after the Gulf state funded the reconstruction of many Shi'ite villages destroyed during a 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel.

In 2010 the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, toured south Lebanon, a Hezbollah stronghold, inaugurating several Qatar-funded projects in the village of Bint Jbeil, where Hezbollah and Israel fought fierce battles.

But relations soured the following year when Qatar took the side of the rebels in the revolt that erupted against the rule of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a Hezbollah ally.

HE Qatar’s Foreign Minister Dr Khalid bin Mohamed al-Attiyah yesterday paid an official visit to Iran, during which he met with his Iranian counterpart Mohamed Javad Zarif and a group of Iranian officials.

During the meeting, the two sides reviewed bilateral relations between the two countries and means of boosting and developing them as well as the latest developments in the Middle East.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday, HE Dr al-Attiyah highlighted the significance of talks and co-operation between the two countries on all fronts, pointing to the formation of a joint working committee to boost and activate ties and establish a free zone between both countries.

He also stressed the importance of dialogue as the way of reaching regional security. “Difference in views does not mean that some regional issues are not discussed,” Dr al-Attiyah said, adding: “The Syrian crisis should be settled through a political solution.”

For his part, Zarif expressed his country’s keenness on boosting bilateral ties and co-operation aspects with Qatar. “We, along with brothers in Qatar, share historic ties and we have to develop and facilitate these ties,” he said. “We hope that, through continued dialogue, we can bring points of view closer.”

On Tuesday, HE the Qatari Foreign Minister said that the deterioration of the Syrian crisis and its implications on the humanitarian condition represents the biggest challenge to international law.