Qatari officials have been quick to refute
claims that Qatari money has been part of
the funding of ISIS.
However, it's been alleged in some reports
that Qatar, along with Saudi Arabia, Jordan
and even EU-member state Turkey have all had
funding linked to ISIS.
But why are reporters and journalists making
these links?
According to some, the funding of militant
groups has been the go-to plan for both the
West and the Middle East in the struggle to
control the flow of oil and natural gas from
the Gulf states.
It's this funding that may have found its
way into the hands of ISIS.
Back in 2009, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
reportedly refused to sign a deal with Qatar
that would have run a natural gas pipeline
from Qatar's North Field, through Saudi Arabia,
Jordan, Syria and then Turkey to supply Europe.
This would by-pass Russia, Assad's most powerful
ally and currently the top supplier of natural
gas to Europe.
The theory continues like this. Instead, to
protect Russian interests, Assad signed a
deal with Iran from it's South Pass field
that shares a border with Qatar's North Field.
This was seen as a direct affront to Qatar
and that's why some reports have suggested
that Qatar had a vested interest to get Assad
out of power and replaced with a friendlier
regime.
They, along with several other states, began
financing militant groups opposed to President
Assad. As the Islamic State began to gain
more power, many members of the various militant
group's operating began to defect, often simply
to be on the winning side or to join the group
with the most backing, taking their finance
with them.
The cumulative effect has meant that money
and weapons that flooded into Syria to stop
Assad are now bolstering ISIS.
Add to this the sympathetic corners of the
Middle East's rich and powerful to puritan
Wahhabist strain of Islam that ISIS seeks
to impose and a series of blunders to stop
the arms and finance getting into the wrong
hands, and we get our answer.
Yes, in theory, if all the above is entirely
true, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Turkey
have financed ISIS.
