Qatar has released an initial report into the alleged hack of its state-run news agency, an incident which helped spark a diplomatic crisis between the energy-rich country and Arab nations.
The FBI has sent a team of investigators to Qatar because they believe that Russian hackers are responsible for planting a fake news report that has led to the crisis in which all diplomatic ties to Qatar have been severed by Saudi Arabia and numerous other Gulf nations, according to a CNN report.
Rivalry with Iran - with which Saudi Arabia is engaged in a series of proxy wars across the region - looms over the dispute and a spark for the current crisis was US President Donald Trump's visit to the region.
"The emir of Kuwait is a messenger of good, but the policies of Qatar have not granted his endeavors success", Mecca reported Sheikh Khaled as saying on its official Twitter page.
Yet Trump's tweet drew concern among American defense officials because Qatar is home to the forward headquarters of the US Central Command, a major Mideast intelligence hub for the US and the site from where it carries out attacks against Islamic State.
During his first foreign trip last month, Trump spent several days in Saudi Arabia with King Salman, pressing a message of unity in the face of extremism to Arab and Muslim leaders and urging Gulf countries to halt the funding of extremist and terror groups. Qatar is home to the biggest US military air base in the Middle East and Washington officials say operations have not yet been affected, but this could change if the diplomatic row between Qatar and the U.S.
Sheikh Sabah aims resolving a diplomatic crisis between Qatar and other Arab nations.
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"They said they would take a hard line on funding extremism and all reference was pointing to Qatar", he said in a followup tweet.
In his call Wednesday Trump told Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Qatar's leader, that it was important that countries in the region work together "to prevent the financing of terrorist organizations and stop the promotion of extremist ideology", the White House said.
It's all over a claim Qatar supports terrorism, which has been vehemently denied by Qatari officials.
"We have repeatedly explained that Russian government structures do not have any relationship with hacking", Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Wednesday in comments carried by the Interfax news agency.
Qatar has forged regional alliances independently of its fellow Gulf Cooperation Council states, drawing accusation by Saudi Arabia and its allies of serving Iranian interests.
Saudi Arabia has closed Qatar's only land border.
"They are host to our operational base", Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said when asked if Qatar is a supporter of terrorism.
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