It is common knowledge that the ongoing siege of Qatar, by four Arab nations, are built on a pack of lies and fake news reports.  

It was only a few days ago that a news report appeared about US investigators saying the UAE was behind a hack of Qatar News Agency and planting of fake stories which precipitated the current Gulf crisis.

The hackers, who posted a fake story with fake quotes attributed to HH The Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, had pushed Qatar into its worst diplomatic crisis in several years.   

And now, an NBC News report has suggested that ‘fake news’ designed to harm Qatar’s relations with the US played a major role in the diplomatic split between the Gulf nation and its neighbours.

A US intelligence official said that the quotes attributed to HH The Emir were phoney and part of a campaign to hurt Qatar, reported Gulf Times.

Several officials confirmed the report in the Washington Post that someone working for the UAE government hacked into Qatari news sites and social media on May 24 to plant the false comments attributed to HH The Emir.

The intelligence official said the operatives who carried out the hack may have been private contractors, but US authorities see the UAE as ultimately responsible.

The Post reported that the US had overheard UAE officials discussing the plan on May 23. The next day, HH The Emir’s purported remarks spread via social media after the hacking of Qatar News Agency's website, leading the UAE and three other countries to break relations with Qatar, and then block air, truck and ship traffic to the country.

NBC News quoted Qatari officials as saying that the Qatari government sent notices to all regional broadcasters and media outlets within 45 minutes saying that the news agency's site had been hacked. 

“These corrections were promptly acknowledged everywhere except the UAE and Saudi Arabia, where media outlets continued to cite the fake quotes.”

“The fake quotes and tweets were then used as a pretext for the launching of an economic, political and social blockade of Qatar on June 5, and the contents of the fabricated quotes provided the source material for the 13 'non-negotiable' demands that were lodged against Qatar on June 23.”