Saudis used fake Islamic State statement against Qatar: New York Times
Date
9/11/2017 1:21:16 PM
(MENAFN- The Peninsula) By Al Jazeera
The New York Times on Sunday debunked information spread by official Saudi media outlets a day earlier claiming Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) expressed support for Qatar in the Gulf crisis.
The US publication said the ISIL statement aiming to link Qatar to terrorism was "apparently fake".
It was not the first time Qatar was targeted by spreading misinformation.
Last month, Dubai TV aired a false report claiming anti-government demonstrations took place in Qatar's capital, Doha, and alleged troops - including soldiers from Turkey - fired tear gas at protesters.
The media attacks come amid a dispute between Qatar and its neighbours - Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain - as well as Egypt.
The quartet cut diplomatic ties with Doha on June 5 and imposed an air, sea and land blockade on Qatar - accusing it of supporting Iran and "extremists" in the region.
Qatar strongly denies the allegations.
Marwan Kabalan, director of policy analysis at Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, told Al Jazeera by spreading false news Saudi Arabia may be diverting attention from a story in the US media about the Saudi embassy's possible links to the September 11, 2001 attacks.
"This shows that Saudis are doing their best to divert the attention from yesterday's reports by The New York Post and The Independent saying that the Saudi embassy in Washington did in fact have ties to some of the hijackers of the 9/11 attacks," said Kabalan.
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