Qatar plane lands in Saudi for first time since siege

The plane of the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani landed at Jeddah airport in Saudi Arabia for the first time since the outbreak of the Gulf crisis two years ago.

“Qatar Airways is landing at Jeddah airport for the first time since the outbreak of the Gulf crisis and the siege of Qatar,” Qatar Airways said on its Twitter account.

عاجل: الطائرة الأميرية #القطرية تهبط مطار جدة لأول مره منذ اندلاع الأزمة الخليجية وحصار #قطر pic.twitter.com/Ei2gKcz0Sn

— قطر اليوم (@Qat) May 27, 2019

Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt launched an air, sea and land blockade on their Gulf neighbour in June 2017 accusing it of supporting terrorism and links with regional foe Iran. Doha vehemently denied the allegations saying the attack was a means to force regime change.

Late last week, Al Thani received an invitation from Saudi King Saudi King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to attend two summits in Makkah, the Director of Information Office in Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement yesterday.

The summits are to discuss the implications of drone strikes on oil installations in the kingdom and attacks on four vessels, including two Saudi oil tankers, off the UAE coast earlier this month.

READ: Qatar says invited to emergency Arab summits in Makkah by Saudi King