Egypt, Qatar: Egypt reopens airspace to flights from Qatar beginning Jan. 12 /update 4

Event

Egypt has reopened its airspace to aircraft from Qatar as of Jan. 12, with Egyptian authorities saying that flights between the two countries will resume on the same day. The announcement comes after Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, and Egypt signed a declaration at the 41st Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit in the Saudi city of Al-Ula Jan. 5, ending a more than three-year-long diplomatic dispute with Qatar. The full contents of the agreement have yet to be made public; however, Saudi Arabia and its allies have stated they will restore full diplomatic relations with Doha in order to promote regional security and stability. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Bahrain reopened their borders with Qatar on Jan. 4, 9, and 11, respectively.

Context

The official signing of the agreement came a day after Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Ahmad Nasser Al-Sabah announced Jan. 4 that Saudi Arabia was reopening its airspace and land and sea borders to Qatar beginning the evening of Jan. 4. The agreement and the end of the diplomatic dispute marks a significant shift in Saudi Arabia's and its allies' posture toward Doha. The quartet - as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, and Egypt are known - imposed a naval, air, and land blockades on Qatar in June 2017, demanding that Doha fulfill a list of 13 demands, including the closure of Al Jazeera news network and degradation of ties with Iran. Qatar has not fulfilled any of the 13 demands; however, Doha will likely scale down its ties with Tehran and groups like the Muslim Brotherhood.

The reopening of borders follows several Gulf states' normalization of ties with Israel, brokered by the US government. Kuwait and the US had since been engaged in efforts to mediate a solution to the political dispute.