Bahraini Foreign Minister meets newspapers’ editors to thwart the Gulf reconciliation

Bahraini Leaks reveals the events of the meetings held by the Bahraini Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abdul Latif Al-Zayani, with the editors-in-chief of the official newspapers, which dealt with the Gulf reconciliation and the form of the upcoming relationship with Qatar.

Private sources said that Al-Zayani asked the editors of official newspapers not to deal with the Gulf reconciliation’s positive results and continue media attacks against Qatar.

The sources said that the Bahraini regime is irritated because of this reconciliation, which ended without achieving any Bahraini goals, most notably demarcating Qatar’s maritime border.

Official campaign

The minister’s meeting with the editors of the official Bahraini newspapers continues the systematic official media campaign against the Gulf reconciliation, preceded by an attack across the House of Representatives against Qatar, accusing it of assaulting Bahraini sailors.

While the Bahraini foreign minister had accused Qatar of committing military aggression, it aimed at blackmailing.

The ruler of Bahrain, Hamad Isa al-Khalifa, had been absent from the Gulf summit held in the Saudi Al-Ula province on Tuesday, January 5, 2021. Gulf reconciliation was signed between Qatar and countries that imposed a political and economic blockade on it since June 2017.

Bahraini Leaks, citing informed sources, learned that the King of Bahrain, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, had secretly visited Abu Dhabi before the Al-Ula summit was held and met with the Crown Prince of the Emirates, Mohammed bin Zayed.

The sources pointed out that the purpose of this secret visit was to ask bin Zayed to oppose the steps taken by Saudi Arabia to end the Gulf disputes with Qatar.

The sources confirmed that bin Zayed, although he did not want this reconciliation to happen with Qatar, seemed hesitant about the Bahraini request, fearing the Saudi monarch’s anger who supports ending these differences.

Opposition front

The sources said: “The King of Bahrain is trying to form a front against reconciliation with Qatar, especially since the meeting that will be held in Riyadh is the first meeting and aims to draw the initial form of reconciliation.”

The sources explained that the King of Bahrain wants to sabotage the reconciliation efforts and that the Gulf states do not end Qatar’s blockade.

It seems that Bahrain’s efforts to form a front that rejects ending the siege of Qatar expresses the “oppression and rage” of the King of Bahrain at the tremendous political role that the neighbour Qatar plays in the region, at a time when Bahrain’s voice is not heard in the world, except for the voice of the torturers in its prisons.

Escalation of the media attack

The sources pointed out that the two men (Al Khalifa and Bin Zayed) agreed to escalate the media attack against Qatar, and even during and after the Gulf summit, given that this summit will not succeed.

There were sharp differences between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, which led to the latter changing the summit’s venue from Manama to Riyadh.

The King of Bahrain was severely reprimanded by the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, because of his position rejecting this Gulf reconciliation and the fabrication of the fishermen’s crisis to deepen the differences between them.

The sources indicated that King Salman asked the King of Bahrain not to escalate matters and complicate Qatar’s situation.