‘We are betrayed’ Qatari fury over US role in strike may reshape Gulf politics

On Thursday, the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, led a funeral at the state mosque. Flanked by officials wearing the traditional white thobe, he prayed over six caskets, one bearing a Qatari flag and five bearing Palestinian flags.

- William Christou

Israel’s strike on Hamas leaders in Doha on Tuesday, during which a Qatari officer was also killed in the line of duty, marked an unprecedented moment for the small Gulf kingdom. The attack undercut the assumption that has underpinned Qatari foreign policy for the last three decades and has reverberated across the region: be useful to the United States and it will protect you.

Qatar has been useful. It has facilitated peace talks between Israel and Hamas for the last two years, and it did the same with the Taliban and the US during the war in Afghanistan. It hosts al-Udeid air base, the largest US military base in the Middle East.

For decades the arrangement has held. The US has supplied the Gulf states with arms and weaponry, parked its aircraft carrier in the Gulf and provided political cover internationally. US assistance has been a key factor in helping spare the Gulf nations from the unrest that has consumed much of the rest of the Middle East, despite the historical rivalry with Iran.

All this changed when the US failed to stop the strike on Qatar this week, despite Israel being one of its closest allies. Although Trump said he tried to give warning of the strike, Qatar said it was only notified after it began.