World Bulletin/News Desk

Bahraini Ambassador to Qatar Waheed Sayar returned Thursday to the Qatari capital Doha after eight months of rift among the Gulf Cooperation Council members.

Bahrain's state-run BNA news agency reported that Sayar arrived Thursday in Doha and "resumed his duties."

"Sayar expressed delight at being in Qatar to continue serving the brotherly Bahraini-Qatari ties," the report added.

On Sunday, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain agreed to send their ambassadors back to Qatar - after nearly 8 months from recalling them – as per an understanding the Gulf leaders reached in Sunday's Riyadh summit.

Relations between Qatar on one hand and the three Gulf nations on the other worsened earlier this year when the three latter countries accused Doha of interfering in their affairs.

Many observers, however, linked the rift to Doha's perceived support for ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi and the latter's Muslim Brotherhood group, which remains the target of a relentless security crackdown by Egypt's military-backed authorities.

Following Morsi's ouster and imprisonment by the Egyptian army last year, a number of his supporters fled to Qatar – which had been a key ally of the Morsi administration – amid a harsh crackdown on dissent by Egypt's new army-backed rulers.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, on the other hand, had been the first two Arab countries to welcome Morsi's ouster by the army last year following opposition protests.

Last December, Egypt's army-installed interim government designated the Brotherhood a "terrorist" group, with Saudi Arabia following suit three months later.