Experts claim that Qatar was supporting a range of Islamists in Syria and Iraq from the Muslim Brotherhood to Salafi Jihadist groups along with Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.MOSCOW, December 13 (Sputnik), Svetlana Alexandrova, Daria ChernyshovaQatar was supporting a range ofIslamists inSyria and Iraq fromthe Muslim Brotherhood toSalafi Jihadist groups alongwith Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, experts told Sputnik News Agency onSaturday commenting onthe recent report ofthe US Foundation forDefense ofDemocracy (FDD) exposing Qatar's role inthe extremist groups' financing.
"It was not just Qatar doing this, it was Kuwait viaprivate donors and more importantly Saudi Arabia," a senior policy fellow withEuropean Council onForeign Relations Andrew Hammond told Sputnik News Agency adding that, "it was throughprivate donors, though that money would have got tothe jihadist groups."
Yevgeny Satanovsky, the president ofInstitute forMiddle East Studies, believes that the inception and strengthening ofIslamic State is, infact, a story ofclashes betweenextremist groups sponsored byQatar againstextremists financed bySaudi Arabia.
"Obviously, the Saudi and Qatari money channelling was done throughprivate individuals," he said adding that, "Riyadh, that was proven tochannel money toal-Qaeda and its clones, has never done it directly throughthe Central Intelligence Agency butthrough individuals."
Both experts agreed that the report prepared byFDD, that is considered tobe a US neoconservative think tank, does not reveal new facts. Instead, it proves that the US State Department and the US Department ofNational Security long ago "turned a blind eye" onthe Gulf states financing Islamic extremism.
"Pro-Israeli analysts and politicians inthe United States and elsewhere are not interested inattacking Saudi Arabia overthis year, so they focus all their energy onQatar," Hammond said connecting this US policy withthe fact that Qatar supported Hamasduringthe Gaza war this year while Saudis were againstit.
"Indeed, [Saudi Arabia's ruling royal family] Saud have carefully manoeuvred themselves intoa political alignment withIsrael ona number ofissues, and the same goes forthe United Arab Emirates," he explained.
Hammond, who is also an author ofthe book "The Islamic Utopia: The Illusion ofReform inSaudi Arabia", believes that, "in the Saudi case the [financing] may have been orchestrated bysenior princes directly, specifically byBandar bin Sultan who was incharge ofthe Saudi campaign tobring downthe Syrian president Bashar Assad."
Saudi Arabia, alongsideother US allies such asJordan, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain, that all have Sunni leaderships, were opponents ofAssad, who is a member ofa Shia Alawite sect, backed byShia Iran. The Gulf states atfirst actively supported withmoney and weapons extremists fighting Assad butbecame alarmed afterIslamic State (IS) proclaimed a caliphate onthe part ofthe Iraqi and Syrian territory.
"ISIS [IS] will continue togrow territorially untilit falls apart, if Sunni tribes alongwith Baathists led byIzadam Ibrahim Adduri organize successful raids behindthe Islamic State's lines," Satanovsky told Sputnik adding that Saudi Arabia might fall underthe IS pressure. He pointed our that Riyadh already takes additional security measures.
"The Kingdom [of Saudi Arabia] strengthened the Iraqi border withthe National Guards and signed an agreement ofmilitary alliance withEgypt, that allowed Saudis toadd another 30,000 soldiers fromthe Egyptian Expeditionary Force," the expert said noting that Saudi Arabia is also trying to "buy" the tribal sheikhs who live onthe Saudi-Iraqi border.
Speaking ofQatar, Satanovsky stressed that, "these days the state also channels money toImarat Kavkaz [a militant group operating inNorth Caucasus]."
The expert is confident that this group organized the terrorist attack inGrozny city inRussias North Caucasus republic ofChechnya onDecember 4 when Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered the annual Presidential Address tothe Federal Assembly.
Imarat Kavkaz is an Islamic extremist organization that has been fighting government forces inits campaign toestablish an Islamist state acrossRussia's North Caucasus.
By Sputnik News
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