Kuwaiti FM arrives in Saudi Arabia for surprise visit

By Ahmed al-Masri

DOHA, Qatar (AA) - Kuwaiti Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Kahled al-Hamad al-Sabah arrived in Saudi Arabia on Thursday for an unannounced visit.

"Al-Sabah was received at the airport of the King Salman Airbase in Riyadh by Saudi Foreign Minister Adel bin Ahmed al-Jubair," the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.

The visit comes two days after Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah received two brothers of the Qatari emir, Sheikh Jassem bin Hamad and the Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad.

The Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) reported that the pair had delivered a “verbal message” from their brother, Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

The message, according to KUNA, had stressed the “brotherly relations between the two countries” and tackled “recent developments in the region”.

The recent diplomatic activity comes amid an ongoing crisis in inter-Arab relations in which Kuwait has sought to play a mediating role.

In June, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain abruptly cut diplomatic and commercial ties with Qatar, accusing it of supporting terrorist groups in the region.

Qatar, for its part, has denied the accusations, describing the attempts to isolate it as a breach of international law.

Kuwait, for its part, has tried to mediate the crisis, dispatching high-level emissaries to relay messages between Qatar and the four Arab states arrayed against it.