Orientul Mijlociu

It is no secret that Qatar is currently the third largest importer of weapons and ammunition world-wide. Qatar has endless resources and can afford to buy as many weapons as she wants. The thing is, that there are three major reasons, why this should not happen, at least not is this volume. First and foremost, Qatar is a very small country, with only 2.5-3 million population, Qatar should not be found amongst the top ten weapons importers. Surely, the fact that Qatari forces are mainly African mercenaries should be a contributing fact. Secondly, Qatar’s security is fully covered by the US, who keeps her regional air base in this little Emirate just to make sure it will survive, so why do they need to invest billions in weaponry. Third, and quite interesting, Qatar has been viewed as a hub of terror organizations, funding them and providing them with shelter and top-level connections. This includes El-Qaida, al-Nusra Front, Hamas and ISIS, and strong ideological ties with the Taliban. With all that in mind, it is more than intriguing, that many weapons suppliers stand in line to sell to Al-Thani and his armed forces, whatever they wish for.

Qatar seems to be the “go-to guy” for almost anything important going on in the last few months, especially over the last weeks. The influence of the Emir Tamim Bin Hadad Al-Thani has grown completely out of proportion, and for a good reason: Qatar invests heavily in the Western world, in the democratic strongholds of Europe, in industry as well as media. On the other hand, Qatar invests massively in Salafi institutions and entities, terror organizations and fundamentalistic clerics and opinionmakers. Qatar is not only holding the stick at both ends, it owns the stick. In a time of crisis, there seems to be no-one else you can trust, or can you!?

In many ways, Qatar is completely misunderstood. No wonder – Qatar plays in the playgrounds of the empires, while in itself it is hardly more than a gas-providing emirate. Qatar hosts world sports events like F1, football world cup and intends to hosts the Olympic games, yet has less sports pedigree than any other host ever before. Qatar has more foreign relations in the West than in Arab countries, invests more money in “the free world” than in regional endeavors. Qatar invests heavily in Salafist terror organizations, yet is the main “negotiator” to “solve problems” arising from the activities of these very organizations. Naturally, Western countries like to believe that Qatari willingness to help shows promise. Neighboring Arab countries, on the other hand, have long exposed the deeper needs of Qatar and even banned them for years because of their involvement in terror activities.

Makeshift tents extend as far as the eye can see in the desert landscape of Rafah, the southernmost province of the Gaza Strip where more than half of Gaza’s population is now living, after fleeing Israeli airstrikes.

The Hamas terrorist leaders who directed the brutal October 7 attack on Israel remain top targets of the Israeli defense and intelligence communities. Understanding the background of these individuals provides a better sense of the challenge faced by the Jewish state. According to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant, “Hamas terrorists have two options: Be killed or surrender unconditionally.” While the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claim to have killed or captured thousands of terrorists, seven out of these eight top Hamas leaders remain alive.

Latest Developments

U.S. and British forces in the Red Sea on January 9 thwarted the largest attack yet by Houthi rebels against commercial shipping in the southern Red Sea. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned on January 10 that if the attacks continue “there will be consequences.” What those consequences will be remains to be seen.

Data Cutoff: January 10, 2024, at 10 a.m.

Key Takeaway: IS affiliates across sub-Saharan Africa have claimed attacks as part of the new IS global campaign and could attempt to carry out high-visibility attacks against civilians and religious sites in their areas of operation to maximize the propaganda value of the campaign. IS central media is branding the campaign as supportive of the Palestinian cause in response to the Israel-Hamas war and is also encouraging lone-wolf attacks against civilians in the West.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) was established in 1949 to serve Palestinian refugees displaced during Israel’s War of Independence. UNRWA continues to operate in the Gaza Strip, West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan nearly 75 years later. The United States has contributed over $1 billion to UNRWA since 2021 even though the agency provides cover for terrorist activity and perpetuates the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

When U.S. and U.K. warships and aircraft launched waves of missiles at Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen early Friday in Sanaa, it capped weeks of warnings to the group to cease their drone and missile attacks against commercial vessels in the Red Sea or face severe consequences.

In recent days the death of at least 22,000 people and enormous other distress including the displacement of a vast majority of the people of Gaza have been caused as a result of the highly disproportionate response of Israel to the terrible attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023.

While several aspects of this tragic situation have been widely discussed, perhaps one aspect which should have received more attention relates to the oil and gas reserves of the region as a motivating cause of this entire tragedy, just as oil and gas resources have been an important factor in several earlier tragedies of this region.