Qatar’s economy has been suffering during the last period as a result of its diplomatic crisis with the Arab Quartet – CC via Flickr/Juanedc
CAIRO – 20 November 2017: Qatari Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defense Affairs Khalid bin Mohamed Al-Attiyah said Sunday that Qatar has never supported any extremist group in Syria or in any other place. This shows that Qatar has no intentions to respond to the demands of Arab states thinking that procrastination and evasion will solve it.
Speaking to Al-Haqiqa (The Truth) program which broadcasts on Qatar TV, Attiyah stressed that Qatar had not supported any terrorist group; contrarily, it only backs the aspirations of the Arab peoples and ensures their welfare.
Asked about the Gulf crisis, Attiyah noted that “it had its origin in 1996; then, it was followed by unfriendly acts in 2013 and 2014 and culminated in the severing of ties and the blockade of Qatar on June 5 this year.”
“Immediately after coming to power in June 2013, his highness Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani issued clear instructions to the Cabinet to maintain excellent relations with the GCC countries in everything – economy, social and political matters,” Attiyah recalled.
Regarding the opening of a Taliban political office in Doha, Attiyah said that the U.S. had asked for opening the office and Qatar welcomed this request that would help Afghanistan restore its peace and stability.
He affirmed that the present dispute against Qatar started in 2013 when it was planned to “shock the new government and make the country subject to others.”
On the contrary, media outlets in October reported that Qatar has been assisting the transportation of Islamic State (IS) militants from Iraq and Syria to southern Libya.
In early October, the Libyan National Army's spokesperson, Ahmed Al-Mesmari, announced that Qatar has been supporting IS terrorists financially; he also added that Doha committed numerous crimes against the Libyan people, especially transporting IS militants from Syria and Iraq to Sudan and then to Libya.
Christopher Davidson, a British researcher who teaches Middle East politics at Durham University in England, also stated that Qatar was involved in the transport of weapons and fighters from Libya to Syria in 2012 and 2013, but is now transporting them to Libya.
A March 2013 UN report pointed out that in 2011 and 2012, Qatar violated the UN's arms embargo by “providing military material to the revolutionary forces through the organization of a large number of flights and the deliveries of a range of arms and ammunition."
Doha has provided more than €750 million to extremist groups in Libya since 2011. On the other hand, the Central Intelligence Agency of America (CIA) on Wednesday, released to the public nearly 470,000 additional files recovered in the May 2011 raid on Osama Bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. CIA director Mike Pompeo authorized the release in the interest of transparency and to enhance public understanding of al-Qaeda and its former leader, the CIA stated on Wednesday.
A paper in bin Laden’s memos said that he wanted to transmit his ideas about the revolutions of Arab countries to his son Hamza, who is supposed to travel to Qatar. Bin Laden wrote in the memos that Qatar is the only qualified country to carry this responsibility in order to avoid any crises.
The French website, Therese Zrihen, referred also to Qatar’s stubbornness in supporting terrorist organizations, claiming that it has been double-dealing in the Middle East for decades, as it destabilizes its neighbors while acting as though it is paying lip service to Gulf Arab unity.
The report accused Qatar, the world's largest exporter of natural gas, of using part of its wealth to finance extremist groups, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, Taliban, Hamas and al-Qaeda.
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