Qatar is a small, gas-rich Gulf monarchy that plays a double game in international affairs, selling gas to the West and making investments there while cosying up to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. It hosts both an American military base—the regional headquarters of America's Central Command—and the political bureau of Hamas. Qatar is a member of the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC), whose six members are Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. America is the largest arms supplier to each GCC state. Qatar is the patron of Al Jazeera, the Arabic satellite-news channel. Four Arab states imposed a travel-and-trade embargo on Qatar in 2017 over its support for Islamist groups; it was lifted in 2021.
Hamas's senior leaders have long enjoyed a comfortable exile in Qatar. With American blessing, Doha has served as the venue for indirect talks between Israel and Hamas. Israel tacitly approved Qatar's role as host of Hamas's political leadership.
On September 9th 2025 Israeli warplanes bombed a villa in Doha where leaders of Hamas were thought to be meeting. Five lower-ranking members were killed, but the senior leaders are said to have survived, though they have not been seen in public since. The Mossad and Israel's generals had opposed the operation, arguing it would disrupt ceasefire talks and endanger hostages; Binyamin Netanyahu ordered it anyway, partly in response to criticism after a shooting attack killed six civilians in Jerusalem the previous day. Qatar was the sixth country Israel had bombed since October 7th 2023, after Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and Yemen.
The strike jeopardised talks to end the Gaza war. Muhammad bin Zayed, the president of the UAE, flew to Doha to meet the emir; Muhammad bin Salman was expected to follow—a public show of solidarity from neighbours which, not long ago, had severed ties with Qatar.
The operation undermined American credibility in the Gulf. Donald Trump promised Marco Rubio, his secretary of state, would work to finalise a defence pact with Qatar. The strike reinforced fears that an unbridled Israel is now a regional hegemon and that America can no longer guarantee its partners' safety—fears that had grown since Iranian drones crippled Saudi oilfields in 2019 and hit the UAE in 2022. Qatar itself had been bombed by Iran in June 2025, retaliating for American strikes on its nuclear facilities.
Saad al-Kaabi is Qatar's energy minister. Qatar's Ras Laffan complex, operated by QatarEnergy, produced about 75m tonnes of LNG in 2025, equivalent to about a fifth of global output. During the third Gulf war in early 2026, Ras Laffan was shut after a drone strike on March 2nd, taking nearly a fifth of global LNG supply off the market. A planned expansion of output was also postponed. The loss of Qatar's exports set off a scramble for gas in Asia and pushed up prices in Europe, where storage tanks were unusually empty for the time of year. QatarEnergy, which runs the plant, also makes 10% of the world's urea, the most widely used fertiliser, and around a third of its helium, which is used in chipmaking.
The complex has 14 liquefaction units. A subsequent missile strike in late March 2026 damaged two of those units, accounting for 17% of Ras Laffan's capacity and 3% of global LNG supply; the energy minister said repairs would take three to five years. Restarting any operations at the complex after a shutdown is a delicate process: equipment must be purged of moisture to prevent pipes cracking as they are cooled back to -160°C, a procedure that could take up to seven weeks according to Anne-Sophie Corbeau of Columbia University. Last year Qatar supplied 30% of China's LNG imports, 45% of India's and 99% of Pakistan's; Japan and South Korea buy lots too. More than 80m tonnes of LNG sailed through the Strait of Hormuz in 2025.
Qatar's economy is fuelled by vast natural-gas reserves. The government ploughed more than $200bn into infrastructure for the 2022 football World Cup, including stadiums, hotels, a metro and other facilities. The economy grew by 2.8% in 2024, up from 1.2% in 2023, but a post-tournament hangover persists. The hotel-occupancy rate was 69% in 2024, nine percentage points behind Dubai and ten behind Abu Dhabi. Rental prices for villas fell by 7% over the past year; apartments were down by 5%. Around 20% of shop fronts in Doha's malls are thought to be vacant, with rents at a ten-year low. Lusail, a new city north of Doha that hosted the World Cup final, feels like a ghost town.
Qatar has only 400,000 citizens, far fewer than its Gulf neighbours, making economic diversification less urgent than in Saudi Arabia with its 20m. Gas will enjoy growing demand for years to come.
The current emir succeeded his father, who abdicated in 2013. Qatar has carved out a geopolitical niche by hosting regional rebels and politicians for peace talks, though its support for Islamists, particularly the Muslim Brotherhood, drew a travel-and-trade embargo from four Arab states in 2017.
After the Gaza war Qatar began focusing its mediation further afield. It brokered talks between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo that culminated in a peace deal in June 2025. It also began mediating between the Colombian government and the Clan del Golfo, a drug gang. In September 2025 it helped negotiate the release of Elizabeth Tsurkov, an Israeli-Russian researcher held captive for two years by an Iraqi militia.
Al Jazeera, Qatar's state-owned satellite-news channel, took a staunchly pro-Hamas line throughout the Gaza war. In late 2025 the government shuffled its management; the new boss is a member of the royal family.
On September 29th 2025 Donald Trump issued an executive order declaring that attacks on Qatar would be treated as "a threat to the peace and security of the United States". Qatar hopes to finalise a more detailed defence pact with America.
In late 2025 Lawh wa Qalam, a museum dedicated to M.F. Husain, India's best-known modern artist, opened in Doha. It was commissioned by Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, the mother of the reigning emir, through the Qatar Foundation. Husain had accepted Qatari citizenship in 2010 after being driven out of India by Hindu nationalists.
In an ironic twist, Qatar is now trying to mediate between Saudi Arabia and the UAE—the two countries that imposed an embargo on it in 2017. On February 4th 2026 its emir met Khalid bin Salman, the Saudi defence minister and MBS's brother. Ten days later he flew to Abu Dhabi to see Muhammad bin Zayed, the UAE's president. So far these meetings seem to have made little progress.
In 2020-24 Qatar was the world's third-largest arms importer, behind only Ukraine (which is at war) and India (which has a population nearly 500 times larger). America is its largest supplier. Qatar has no diplomatic or economic ties with Israel.
Turkey has deployed troops in Qatar since 2017. The April 2026 ceasefire was expected to deepen this relationship further as Gulf states look for ways to diversify their security partnerships beyond America.
The strike may have been the biggest casualty of the Abraham accords, the fifth anniversary of which fell in September 2025. Qatar is not a signatory, but Bahrain and the UAE are, and Saudi Arabia had considered a deal with Israel. The accords promised deepening economic ties and security co-operation to deter attacks by Iran and its proxies. Israel's assertion of the right to strike its enemies in sovereign states with which it co-operates in other respects is an intolerable prospect for any would-be ally.
The best way to get rid of worries is to let them die of neglect.