Saudi official hints at plan to dig canal on Qatar border

QATAR:- A senior Saudi official on Friday appeared to confirm local media reports that the kingdom is considering digging a canal to separate the Qatari peninsula from the mainland and turn it into an island, amid a year-long dispute between the neighbours.

"As a citizen, I am impatiently waiting for the details of the implementation of the East Salwa island project, this great historic project that will change the region's geography," Saud al-Qahtani, a senior adviser to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, wrote on Twitter.

Qatari authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Qahtani has mentioned the project on Twitter over the past few months, but Friday's tweet was the clearest reference yet to an initiative which critics dismiss as a public relations tactic aimed at intimidating Qatar rather than a serious plan.

U.S. assistance to the Saudi-led coalition's war in Yemen has amounted to killing innocent Yemeni civilians, the New York Times argued in its newspaper.The op-ed piece cited reports by the UN and international watchdog Human Rights Watch, which said the Saudi coalition is responsible of war crimes in Yemen.The report also emphasized the role of the U.S. in not only selling weapons to the coalition but also providing military assistance.

"It's time for the United States and its Western allies to stop selling arms or giving any military assistance to Saudi Arabia and its coalition partners," the newspaper wrote Tuesday.Saudi-led coalition to respond to UN Yemen reportThe majority of U.S. aid to coalition forces in Yemen have been in aerial combat, which received criticism when a U.S. made bomb was used to target a school bus, killing dozens of Yemeni children.According to CNN, the weapon was a 500 pound laser guided MK-82 bomb made by Lockheed Martin, one of the top defense contractors in the U.S.

The bomb was sold to Saudi Arabia in a State Department approved arms deal.The violence in Yemen has devastated the country's infrastructure, including its health and sanitation systems, prompting the UN to describe the situation as "one of the worst humanitarian disasters of modern times".About 6,660 civilians have been killed and 10,563 injured in the Yemeni conflict since March 2015, according to the UN Human Rights Office.Saudi-led coalition air strikes in Yemen may amount to war crimes: UNInternational organizations are not the only ones who have become irritated by the record of the coalition forces.

"Clearly, we're concerned about civilian casualties, and they know about our concern," Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Harrigian told the New York Times.The Times said the next step for the U.S. should be to cut off aid to Saudi Arabia, a move that is not likely to happen.Secretary of Defense James Mattis said Tuesday that while U.S. support to Saudi Arabia is not unconditional, it will continue to provide assistance to coalition forces fighting in Yemen.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic, trade and transport ties with Qatar in June 2017, accusing it of supporting terrorism. Doha denies that charge and says the boycott is an attempt to impinge on its sovereignty.

The dispute has eluded mediation efforts by the United States and Kuwait, with both sides trying to secure the support of Western allies through diplomacy, media and business deals.

Reports about the canal first emerged on Sabq, a news website close to the government in April. Unnamed sources described Saudi plans to build a military base and a nuclear waste dump beside a 60 kilometre (37 mile) channel measuring 200 metres wide and 20 metres deep and stretching across the entire border with Qatar.

The cost was estimated at 2.8 billion riyals ($747 million).

Further reports in the newspaper Makkah in June said Riyadh was moving ahead with the plans, with five unnamed companies invited to bid on the project and a winner to be announced in September.