Algeria cuts diplomatic ties with United Arab Emirates over 'provocative and hostile actions'

BREAKING: Algeria severs diplomatic ties with the United Arab Emirates over what it calls the Gulf state's 'provocative and hostile actions,' giving the UAE ambassador 48 hours to leave, state media reports.

Algeria just cut all diplomatic ties with the United Arab Emirates. The ambassador has 48 hours to pack his bags and go.

Algiers says it exhausted every means of preserving the relationship, and blames what it calls the UAE's provocative and hostile actions. You can see Algiers today, flags up, patience gone.

This has been building for years. President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has called the UAE a statelet trying to destabilise the region, and in July he said on television, wherever they set foot, blood flows. He also admitted the break would have happened long ago if Algeria hadn't wanted to avoid deepening Arab divisions. Back in February, Algiers started tearing up its air services deal with Abu Dhabi.

So far, silence from the UAE Foreign Ministry. But when a country of forty five million tells a Gulf power its ambassador has two days to leave, the Arab world's quiet feud just went public.

This is Sara White, reporting for HIT.