Qatari Emir's Support for ISIS Pushes Him to Topple Ministers

Doha claims that reshuffling the cabinet was an effort to cut costs, as a result of the sharp decline in oil prices.

Qatari flag Courtesy: meepas.com

(SALEM, Ore.) - A Ukrainian hackers group called "Cyber Berkut" revealed a Qatari -Ukrainian secret arms deal including land to air missiles in support for the ISIS terrorist group.

Ahmed Tahiri, the Egyptian prominent journalist, said that the hackers group obtained secret documents from the former Qatari Defence Minister Major General Hamad bin Ali al-Attiyah's negotiations with his Ukrainian counterpart Stjepan Bolturak, to buy air defence systems as well as supplying different types of Cobra, Stinger and Strla missiles to later be handed over to the ISIS terrorist group through intermediaries in Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

Not far from the international scene regarding Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the young Qatari Emir’s policies, observers say that the Emir is seeking to overthrow ministers and the country’s veteran characters, who remain loyal to his father, Hamad Bin Khalifa, in a move to consolidate his own power in Qatar which is witnessing competition between the ruling family (not to mention the deep divisions among them) according to news sources in Qatar’s Emiri Diwan.

Political analysts question Doha’s justifications regarding reshuffling the cabinet and merging eight ministries into four along with overthrowing Foreign Minister Khalid bin Mohamed al-Attiyah and Defense Minister Hamad bin Ali al-Attiyah, after the Emir named himself as the defense minister.

That raises questions about how much Emir Tamim bin Hamad trusts his ministers amid news about the attempts of a coup d'état in the country, which occupies the fourth place among the largest gas producers in the world. Reuters quoted a Western diplomat on the condition of anonymity that "the Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, seeks to overthrow the majority of his ministers from office, but it was not possible to overthrow them all at once."

Doha claims that reshuffling the cabinet was an effort to cut costs, as a result of the sharp decline in oil prices, in light of Doha’s expectations to record $13 billion budget deficit in 2016.