Qatar officials dismiss IS funding claims Published duration 27 October 2014

image copyright Reuters

Senior officials from Qatar have strongly denied claims the country is supporting extremist groups in Syria such as Islamic State.

They told the BBC Qatar had provided support to moderate groups only, in co-ordination with the CIA and other Western and Arab intelligence agencies.

Strict financial controls had been put in place, they added.

In the past, Qatar and donors there are believed to have financed and armed hardline Islamist groups in Syria.

Doha is also believed to have links to the al-Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda affiliate.

Last week US Treasury official David Cohen said Qatar, along with Kuwait, was not doing enough to choke off funding for extremist groups. His department has imposed sanctions on individuals in Qatar for allegedly funding designated terror groups in countries including Syria.

'Nothing to hide'

The Qatari denial came ahead of a visit to the UK this week by Qatar's ruler Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

The officials, including Qatar's director of intelligence, told the BBC the country had nothing to hide over its support for groups in Syria fighting President Assad's regime.

The BBC's Frank Gardner said the officials conceded that there had been constant shifts in allegiances in Syria's civil war and some people previously considered moderate had later joined hard line Islamist militias.

They said that since Qatar's intelligence agency had taken over responsibility for its Syria policy in 2012, the new financial controls had been brought in and a number of suspect financiers had been arrested.

Since September, Qatar has been supporting the US-led military action against IS in Syria.

The Al Udeid Air Base, a highly-classified US facility from which all attack and surveillance missions in the region are co-ordinated by US Central Command, is located in the emirate.