American investigators believe that Russian hackers have infiltrated the Qatar news agency and have published bogus news that contributed to the current Middle East crisis, CNN writes. The FBI recently sent investigators to Doha to help the Qatari government investigate an alleged hacking incident, US and Qatar officials reported.
Trump voiced support for diplomatic blockade
Information gathered by U.S. security agencies shows that Russian hackers are responsible for alleged attacks reported by the Qatar government two weeks ago. One of the largest US military bases in the region is located in Qatar.
US intelligence and police services are concerned that Russia is attacking US allies in the same way it has hacked US elections. US officials said the goal of cyber attacks is to create the gap between the US and their allies. The Qatari government has stated that false assertions were published through the state agencies.
United Arab Emirates (UAE) has banned its citizens from publishing expressions of affection towards Qatar, and those who do not obey, may be sentenced up to 15 years in prison, Gulf News and Al-Arabiya television station said on Wednesday.
The UAE, along with several other powerful Arab states, broke diplomatic ties with Qatar on Monday, accusing it of supporting Islamist militants and Iran.
Qatar rejected these charges. "A sharp and strong action will be taken against anyone who is in favor of Qatar or opposed to the UAE position, whether on a social network or in any written, visual or verbal form," chief prosecutor Hamad Saif al-Shamsi said, Gulf News published.
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday endorsed isolation of Qatar because of "terrorism support" and questioned the future of the major US air base in the region, near Doha, where 10,000 soldiers are located.
In a series of tweets, Trump adhered to the countries of the region that imposed diplomatic, economic and traffic isolation of Qatar, alluding to the Catholic financing of extremism. However, in a later telephone conversation with Saudi King Salman, he emphasized the need for unity in the Persian Gulf.
Ankara will do everything to end the crisis
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that Qatari isolation, including the use of sanctions, will not solve the problems and added that Ankara will do all in its power to help to end the crisis. The Qatar, in 2014, has pledged not to receive Islamist leaders and to alleviate the tonality of al-Jazeera television that is accused of being a spokesman for Islamists in the Arab world. Saudi Arabia and its allies interrupted all diplomatic relations with Qatar and began to use the blockade of a small emirate on Tuesday, causing an unprecedented diplomatic crisis in the Gulf.
