Qatar Emir Said to Snub Saudi Summit Invite as Gulf Rift Festers - Bloomberg

Qatar Emir Said to Snub Saudi Summit Invite as Gulf Rift Festers - Bloomberg:

The invitation from Saudi Arabia’s King Salman to his Qatari counterpart to attend Sunday’s gathering of Gulf monarchies, after 18 months as a regional pariah, wasn’t enough to build a bridge between the feuding countries.

The overture, which Emir Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani rejected, according to a Gulf official, comes as Saudi Arabia seeks to defuse pressure over the killing of a vocal critic in Istanbul. Saudi Arabia’s leadership is also under pressure from the U.S. Congress to mend regional divisions and end its war in Yemen.

Plus, the rifts that prompted the Saudi-led boycott of Qatar in June 2017 haven’t gone away. If anything, they’ve deepened as the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council meets.