Qatar has expelled senior Muslim Brotherhood members in a move that is likely to soothe the ongoing political spat in the GCC and could pave the way for the ambassadors of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and UAE to return to Doha.

Leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood said on 13 September that they are leaving the country, but insisted that Qatar would still support their organisation.

Among those who have said they are leaving are Egyptian-Qatari imam Wagdy Ghoneim and Amr Darrag, a former Egyptian planning minister that fled the country after the coup d’etat that took place in July 2013.

“We value the role of Qatar in supporting the Egyptian people in its revolution against the coup,” said Amr Darrag in an online statement.

“We understand the conditions it is facing in the region.”

The Muslim Brotherhood is now searching for another country to use as a base and is considering Turkey as a possibility, according to Rassd News Network, an agency that has links to the group.

Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and UAE all pulled their ambassadors out of Qatar in March over a dispute that centres on the country’s continuing support for the Muslim Brotherhood.

In March Saudi Arabia designated the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group in a move that was backed by the UAE.