26 September 2017: Women in Saudi Arabia will legally be allowed to obtain driving licences from June next year, following a decree issued by King Salman
18 September 2017: Al Jazeera Media Network’s denounced Snapchat’s decision to pull the plug on its channel at the request of the Saudi government. The social media giant’s ‘alarming’ move sent a message that countries could silence dissenting views by pressuring social media and content distribution companies, Al Jazeera says
11 September 2017: Prominent Saudi religious leader Sheikh Salman Al-Ouda becomes the second cleric to be arrested by Saudi authorities after Awad Al-Qarni is held. No reason is given for the arrested and neither is charged
4 September 2017: Saudi Arabia’s Rotana record company releases a song called ‘Teach Qatar’, a collaboration between a number of high profile Saudi artists and those who live in the country
22 August 2017: Qatar slams Saudi as despite granting Qatari pilgrims the rite of Hajj, they are only permitted to use Saudi airlines
17 August 2017: Saudi Arabia’s King Salman offers to host Qatari pilgrims at his expense
Saeed Ohadi told the ISNA news agency that Iran will use France to mediate with Saudi Arabia and compensate the families of Iranian victims who were killed during the Mina stampede last year.
17 August 2017: GCC cancel Gulf volleyball championship as they were to be hosted by Qatar
17 August 2017: Qatar welcomes Saudi decision to open borders to pilgrims
16 August 2017: Saudi Arabia to open Salwa border point to Qatari pilgrims for Hajj
16 August 2017: Saudi state TV sparks outrage after producing a video saying it can ‘shoot down Qatari passenger flights’
31 July 2017: Qatar filed a wide-ranging legal complaint at the World Trade Organisation to challenge a trade boycott by Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and United Arab Emirates, Qatar’s WTO representative Ali Alwaleed Al-Thani told Reuters
31 July 2017: Qatar slams ‘false’ reports from Saudi that it is preventing its citizens from completing pilgrimage this year
31 July 2017: Qatar is trying to politicise the Hajj pilgrimage according to Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir
30 July 2017: The head of Iraq’s Shia Sadrist Movement, Moqtada Al-Sadr, visits Saudi Arabia for the first time in 11 years
22 July 2017: Saudi Arabia pays $138,000 for anti-Qatar adverts to be aired in the US in an attempt to alter public opinion
19 July 2017: Gulf boycott countries abandon their 13 demands in favour of six principles in order to end the crisis with Qatar
17 July 2017: Qatar felt ‘obliged’ to join the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, but its troops only patrolled the Saudi-Yemen borders and did not partake in any strikes in Yemen
10 July 2017: Saudi Arabia allows the Qatari officials who used to serve in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)’s Secretariat General to return to the Kingdom
9 July 2017: News reports reveal that Saudi Arabia tried to pressure Iraq to join the boycott of Qatar
4 July 2017: Kuwaiti sources reveal Qatar’s response to the list of demands saying Doha has agreed to reduce its relations with Iran ‘if all the Gulf countries commit to doing so’
2 July 2017: Saudi Arabia and its allies give Qatar a further 48 hours to respond to their demands
29 June 2017: A Saudi official denies a New York Times report that Prince Mohammed Bin Nayef has been confined to his palace and barred from travelling after he was replaced by the King’s son as next in line to the throne.
27 June 2017: Kuwait bans religious leaders which were included on a list of terrorists – as designated by Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt – from entering its territory
26 June 2017: Chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee said he would block arms sales to Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other members of the GCC pending progress in resolving a simmering dispute with Qatar
25 June 2017: Turkey says demands by Saudi Arabia and three other nations are ‘an attack to Qatar’s sovereignty right’
King of Saudi Arabia Salman Bin Abdulaziz (L) is welcomed by Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani (R) at Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar on December 5, 2016. [Bandar Algaloud/Saudi Kingdom/Handout]
24 June 2017: Qatar says demands made by Saudi and the UAE to end the Gulf rift are not realistic and are ‘unacceptable’
22 June 2017: A list of 13 demands are handed to Qatar in order for the boycott to end and negotiations to begin. They include shutting down Al Jazeera and a number of other news sites, and handing over members of the Muslim Brotherhood
21 June 2017: Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman is promoted to crown prince, replacing his cousin in a sudden announcement that confirms King Salman’s 31-year-old son as next ruler of the Kingdom
20 June 2017: US says it is ‘mystified’ by the actions of Saudi Arabia and the UAE against Qatar as no demands have yet been made
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