Saudi Arabia hosts a summit of Arab Gulf leaders on Sunday as crises brew over a bitter diplomatic dispute with Qatar, the war in Yemen and the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani has been invited by Riyadh, which severed diplomatic ties with Doha in 2017 along with Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, to the Gulf Cooperation Council talks.
But it was unclear if the emir would attend the annual gathering of the GCC, whose others members — Kuwait and Oman — have stayed out of the worst political fallout between the energy-rich Gulf powers.
Saudi Arabia and its allies accuse Qatar of supporting terrorism and fostering close ties with their regional rival Iran.
Doha — which announced this month it was quitting the Saudi-dominated OPEC oil cartel — denies the allegations, but the dispute has dragged on. “Qatar has burned all the bridges enabling it to take back” its place within the GCC, Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmad Al-Khalifa said in the run-up to the summit.
Sunday’s summit also comes as delegations from the Saudi-backed Yemeni government and Iran-linked Shiite rebels hold UN-brokered peace talks in Sweden. Yemen’s capital has been held since 2014 by Huthi rebels who drove the government out and seized a string of ports.
The Yemeni government, based in the southern port city of Aden, has fought to drive back the rebels with support from a military coalition led by Riyadh and the UAE.
The UN calls it the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with as many as 20 million Yemeni’s facing acute food shortages.
This and images of massive devastation after coalition bombing raids on Yemen have sparked outrage among rights groups and prompted global players to demand an end to the conflict.
Pressure has been piling up on Riyadh to ease off its offensive, particularly an assault launched in June on the rebel-held port city of Hodeida, a key lifeline for aid entering Yemen.
The summit also comes with Saudi Arabia and its de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, under mounting pressure over the murder of Washington Post columnist Khashoggi.
