The Recent war of words between some of the Arab allies have burst into a severe diplomatic escalation as key Arab League nations like Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt have severed diplomatic ties with Qatar. Qatar is accused of backing terrorist organization and meddling in other countries affairs. Bahrain announced early Monday that is severing its diplomatic ties with its neighbor, Qatar. It is cutting its sea and air connectivity with Qatar asked the country’s citizen to leave Bahrain within 14 days. It accused Qatar of interfering in Manama’s internal affairs.

Saudi Arabia was next to cut diplomatic ties. Citing protection of national security, Riyadh announced that it was also severing ties with Qatar and closing off all land, sea, and air contacts. It was also announced that Qatar’ joint participation with Saudi Arabia in a military drill in Syria has also been canceled.

Egypt was next in line to announce that it is also cutting its diplomatic ties with Qatar. It has also closed all its seaports to Qatari vessels and airspace to Qatari air crafts. In a statement, the Egyptian authority accused Qatari authorities of hostilities towards Egypt and of supporting terrorist organization such as the ‘Muslim Brotherhood’.

UAE followed through the actions of previous three countries citing Qatar’s support for extremism and sectarian organizations and of undermining regional stability.

It is being said that this crisis was triggered by a hacking scandal. The hacking and fake news scandal broke out on May 23, when Qatar News Agency’s website and social media accounts were apparently hacked, spreading what Doha calls false statements citing Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. Those included him allegedly slamming the recent tensions with Iran, calling Hamas and Hezbollah resistance movements, as well as doubting whether US President Donald Trump will stay in power for long. The agency’s compromised Twitter account also cited the Qatari foreign minister as saying the island kingdom was severing relations with some of its neighbors. While Doha vehemently denied the validity of those claims, UAE-based broadcasters Al-Arabiya and Sky News Arabia picked up the stories, giving them extensive coverage and infuriating Qatari officials.