Airstrike in Qatar strains U.S. ties

Israeli attack shakes the decades-long American security pact with Gulf states.

- BY NABIH BULOS

QATAR'S emir, left, and prime minister meet with President Trump at the AI Udeid Air Base on May 15.

For years, Persian Gulf nations staked their defense on one thing above all: a U.S.-supplied security umbrella, paid for with tens of billions of their petrodollars and agreements that allowed the U.S. to dot the Middle East with some of its largest military facilities.

The thinking was that being users of U.S. weaponry and having a U.S. military presence was a virtual guarantee of protection if enemies came to call.

That thinking was upended on Tuesday, when Israel, arguably the U.S.'s top ally, dispatched warplanes and hurled 10 missiles at Hamas' political office compound in the Qatari capital, Doha.

The attack, which targeted the Palestinian group's senior negotiation team as it was discussing a ceasefire proposal from President Trump, killed five Hamas members and a Qatari security officer. Hamas denies any of its senior leadership was killed.

But whether the targeting succeeded is irrelevant to Gulf leaders pondering the effectiveness of decades-old security arrangements with the U.S.

"The message to the region appears to be, 'If you think close ties with and major military support for Washington provides protection... think again," " said Hussein Ibish, a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute.

"They're all vulnerable to attack by larger and more powerful neighbors, and they expect a commitment that helping the U.S. militarily comes with a certain degree of protection. It clearly doesn't," he said.

Qatari officials were apoplectic after the strike, calling it cowardly and a violation of the country's sovereignty.