Armed with proper equipment, and working with U.S. advisors, the Peshmerga can attack the ISIL with a coordinated assault supported from the air. This effort will come as a surprise to the ISIL, whose leaders believe we will always stop with targeted bombing, and weaken them both in Iraq and inside of Syria. At the same time we should return to plans to provide the FSA, or some group of moderate forces, with equipment that will allow them to deal with a weakened ISIL, and stepped up operations against the Syrian regime. This entire effort should be done with a low profile, avoiding the massive traditional military operations that are at best temporary solutions. While this military/para-military operation is moving forward, we need to use our diplomatic and more traditional intelligence assets to bring pressure on the governments of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to ISIL and other radical Sunni groups in the region. This effort will be enhanced by the stepped up commitment in the KRG. The Qataris and Saudis will be put in a position of balancing policy between their ongoing competition to dominate the Sunni world and the consequences of serious U.S. pressure. By the same token, the threat of similar, realistic U.S. operations will serve to assist moderate forces in Libya, Lebanon, and even Jordan, where insurgents are increasingly fascinated by the ISIL success in Iraq."

June 5th, 2017:

17:00 GMT:

The Egyptian Central Bank has rejected previous reports on its suspension of transactions in Qatari currency, the bank said in a statement cited by Reuters. Exchanging Qatari riyals to Egyptian pounds or other currencies won’t be affected either.

16:59 GMT:

Qatar’s Al Udeid airbase, the US’ largest military base in the region, will continue to host US flights, the American military stated. “We've seen no impact to our operations and all flights continue as planned," US Air Forces Central Command spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Damien Pickart told Reuters.

15:51 GMT:

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has called for “overcoming the difficulties at the negotiations table” during a phone conversation with his Qatari counterpart, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.

15:47 GMT:

Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit has expressed concern over the simmering tensions and “the ramifications these differences will have on joint Arab work.”
Gheit, who also served as a former foreign minister of Egypt, urged the states to return to the agreements reached in 2014 after the previous rift between the Gulf nations and Qatar.

15:42 GMT:

Al Jazeera’s headquarters in Saudi Arabia have been shut down, Saudi state media reports.

14:44 GMT:

White sugar exports have been halted from UAE and Saudi Arabia to Qatar, according to trade sources cited by Reuters. The two export some 100,000 tonnes of white sugar to Qatar annually, with it being in high demand during the fasting month of Ramadan.

14:23 GMT:

Egypt said it will indefinitely suspend all flights to and from Qatar starting on Tuesday morning at 6:00am Cairo time (4:00am GMT), Reuters reports citing the Civil Aviation Ministry. All Qatari aircraft will also be banned from Egyptian airspace. 

“The ministry has issued a decision to halt all flights between Egypt and Qatar and to close off Egyptian airspace to Qatari aircrafts that seek to land or pass through,” the statement from the ministry reads.

13:23 GMT:

Middle East analyst Marwa Osman traces the spat between the regional rivals Qatar and Saudi Arabia back to as early as the 1950s and believes the current development is “very risky, challenging for the entire region.”

“We started feeling the heat between Qatar and Saudi Arabia three month ago when the affiliates that are being funded by both states started bickering and fighting each other in Syria. That was the first mark that started a war of words between them which concluded in what happened today.

“But they surfaced at the beginning of the so-called Arab uprisings, and Arab Spring in 2011, that had a historical background. It did show that they challenged one another since the 2011 uprisings to take control of the MENA [Middle East, North Africa] region – who funds which group in which state starting from Tunisia ending up in Syria passing through Libya, obviously.

“But it all started in the 1950s. The main bickering of Saudi Arabia and Qatar started with the Saudi support for the Muslim Brotherhood and started from the Gulf War being enemies,” she said.

12:18 GMT:

Egypt has ordered the Qatari ambassador to leave the country within 48 hours, and has recalled its charge d’affaires in Doha, according to the foreign ministry.

“The Qatari ambassador was summoned today and given formal notification of the expiry of his accreditation as an ambassador to Egypt, and was given 48 hours to leave the country,” a statement from the foreign ministry said, as cited by Reuters.

12:00 GMT:

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu called for resolving the dispute in a “peaceful way.” Ankara “will provide every kind of support for the situation to be normalized,” he added, as quoted by AP.

“We see the stability in the Gulf region as our own unity and solidarity,” Reuters cited the minister as saying at a news conference. He emphasized Turkey’s intentions to help find a solution to the spat between “fraternal countries.”

11:43 GMT:

Tehran has urged the Gulf nations to settle the current dispute through dialogue and diplomacy. "No country in the region will benefit from the heightened tension," Reuters cited Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Bahram Qasemi as saying on state TV. “They should adopt peaceful methods, 

11:42 GMT:

Several Egyptian banks have suspended dealings with Qatari financial organizations following the announcement of cutting diplomatic ties between the states, Reuters reports, citing four bankers from Cairo.

11:20 GMT:

Qatar has asked its citizens in the United Arab Emirates to leave that country within 14 days, complying with the UAE's decision, the Qatari embassy announced, according to Reuters.

"Qatari citizens must leave the UAE within 14 days, in accordance with the statement issued by the concerned Emirati parties," the embassy tweeted.

It stated that those who cannot travel directly to Doha should go through Kuwait or Oman. 

10:37 GMT:

Moscow won’t meddle in Middle-Eastern affairs, said Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during a joint press conference with his Belarusian counterpart in Moscow.

He noted that it is “these countries’ business, bilateral relations.” The minister stressed that Russia is interested in “maintaining friendly relationships with everyone, especially with the region, whose primary goal right now is to focus their efforts on combating our common threat of international terrorism.”

09:43 GMT:

Saudi Arabian Airlines, also known as Saudia, has announced it is suspending flights to Qatar, following similar moves from Emirates, Etihad, and flydubai.

09:12 GMT:

The Maldives has also cut ties with Qatar, according to Al Arabiya.

09:00 GMT:

Libya’s eastern-based government has also cut diplomatic relations with Qatar, Foreign Minister Mohammed Dairi said, as cited by Reuters.

08:42 GMT:

The government of Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi says it cut ties with Qatar partly over its support of extremist groups in the war-torn country, which were “in contradiction with the goals announced by the countries supporting the legitimate government,” AP reports.

08:35 GMT:

Qatar Airways has announced on its website that it has suspended all flights to Saudi Arabia, Reuters reports.

07:48 GMT:

Emirates airline has announced the suspension of flight to Doha from Tuesday morning, following similar announcements from flydubai and Etihad, Al Arabiya reports.

07:41 GMT:

Oil prices have risen after the moves against Qatar, Reuters reports.

Qatar is the world’s largest supplier of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and a major seller of condensate – a low-density liquid fuel and refining product derived from natural gas.

07:39 GMT:

Dubai-based budget airline flydubai says it will suspend flights to and from Doha, beginning Tuesday.

“From Tuesday 06 June 2017 all flydubai flights between Dubai and Doha will be suspended,” the airline wrote on Facebook.

07:21 GMT:

Yemen has joined the list of nations cutting ties with Qatar, accusing it of working alongside its enemies in the country’s ongoing civil war, Al Arabiya and Reuters report, citing state news agency Saba.

“Qatar’s practices of dealing with the (Houthi) coup militias and supporting extremist groups became clear,” Yemen’s government said in a statement cited by Reuters.

It added that it supports the decision by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen to remove Qatar from its ranks.

07:15 GMT:

Qatar says it is committed to the Charter of the Gulf Cooperation Council, adding that it respects the sovereignty of other countries and does not interfere in their affairs.

07:15 GMT:

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry says the measures imposed by the Arab states are aimed at imposing guardianship on the country, Reuters reports.

06:57 GMT:

The decision by Arab states to cut ties with Qatar is not a solution to ending the crisis in the Middle East, the deputy chief of staff of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Hamid Aboutalebi, tweeted.

“The era of cutting diplomatic ties and closing borders… is not a way to resolve crisis… as I said before, aggression and occupation will have no result but instability,” he wrote.

06:43 GMT:

Pakistan has no plans to cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, the country’s foreign ministry has announced, according to Reuters.

06:40 GMT:

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry says it regrets the "unjustified" decision of Arab countries to cut ties, Al Jazeera reports.

"The measures are unjustified and are based on claims and allegations that have no basis in fact," the ministry said.

Qatar said the decisions would "not affect the normal lives of citizens and residents."

06:17 GMT:

The breaking of diplomatic ties with Qatar comes after a leaked email between Hillary Clinton and John Podesta revealed in October 2016 that Clinton knew about Saudi and Qatari government funding for Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) “by August 2014.”

06:05 GMT:

Etihad Airways, based in Abu Dhabi, said it will suspend flights to and from Doha from Tuesday morning until further notice. The last flight from Abu Dhabi to Doha will depart at 2:45am local time on Tuesday, according to an airline spokesman.

05:43 GMT:

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says he does not expect the breaking of diplomatic ties between Gulf states and Qatar to have "any significant impact" on the fight against terrorism across the globe.

"I think what we're witnessing is a growing list of some irritants in the region that have been there for some time," Tillerson said while speaking at a bilateral meeting with Australian officials in Sydney on Monday, as quoted by Reuters. "And obviously they have now bubbled up to a level that countries decided they needed to take action in an effort to have those differences addressed."

05:40 GMT:

Egypt has accused Qatar of taking an “anti-Egyptian course” by supporting “terrorist” organizations, including the Muslim Brotherhood, the country’s state news agency reported.

05:27 GMT:

Bahrain’s Foreign Ministry has issued a statement saying it is suspending diplomatic relations “in order to preserve its national security.” Bahrain blames Qatar’s “media incitement, support for armed terrorist activities, and funding linked to Iranian groups to carry out sabotage and spreading chaos in Bahrain.”

Based on the insistence of the State of Qatar to continue to undermine the security and stability of the Kingdom of Bahrain and to interfere in its domestic affairs, as well as on the escalation and incitement of its media and its support to acts of terror and to financing armed groups associated with Iran to carry out subversive attacks and spread chaos in the Kingdom in flagrant violation of all agreements, covenants and principles of international law without any regard to values, law, morals or consideration of the principles of good neighbourliness or pledge to the premises of Gulf relations, and the denial of previous commitments, the Kingdom of Bahrain announces the severing of its diplomatic relations with the State of Qatar in order to preserve its national security.

Bahrain is also withdrawing its diplomatic mission from Doha and giving all members of the Qatari diplomatic mission 48 hours to leave the Kingdom and the completion of the necessary procedures.
Bahrain is also closing its airspace, ports and territorial waters to air traffic and shipping to and from Qatar within 24 hours of the announcement of the statement.

The Government of the Kingdom of Bahrain is banning its citizens from traveling to Qatar or staying there. It regrets that Qatari citizens are not allowed to enter or transiting through Bahrain.
Qatari residents and visitors are therefore given 14 days to leave the Kingdom in order to avoid any hostile attempts or activities that may exploit the situation, despite our pride and confidence in our brethren among the Qatari people and their love for their second country.

The dangerous Qatari practices have not been confined to the Kingdom of Bahrain, but have also been extended to sister countries that have been informed that such acts reflect a very dangerous pattern which cannot be ignored or accepted and must be addressed with full strength and firmness.

While the Kingdom of Bahrain regrets this decision taken to protect its security and maintain its stability, it affirms its keenness on the brotherly people of Qatar who are aware of its suffering as they witness with each act of terror the fall of casualties among their brothers and sisters in Bahrain because their government continues to support terrorism at all levels and to bring down the legitimate regime in Bahrain.