Trump ‘may not have known’ US has 11,000 troops in Qatar when he bashed country on Twitter: report

Donald Trump “may not have known” that Qatar is home to the biggest U.S. military base in the Middle East when he praised Gulf nations for severing diplomatic relations with the nation, MSNBC reports.

Trump on Monday praised the decision by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain , Egypt, Yemen, Libya and the Maldives to cut off ties with the Doha, a move reportedly sparked by a fake news story Qatar officials have emphatically denied.

The president appeared to champion the severed diplomatic ties in a series of tweets on Tuesday,

That tweetstorm prompted a rapid escalation as Qatar feared a military incursion from Saudi Arabia. In a phone call Wednesday, Trump reached out to the Qatari Emir to offer the administration’s assistance in smoothing out relations with other Middle Eastern nations. As CNN reports, the olive branch came as US officials warned Qatar was placing its police force on the highest level of alert.

Qatar is home to Al Udeid Air Base, one of the most crucial stations in the fight against ISIS. It houses around 11,000 U.S. troops.