Lucrative Qatari hostage payments bankrolled a feared Al Qaeda-linked militant group in Syria, one that has grown to become the most effective and powerful extremist faction in the war-ravaged country where it has imposed its extremist vision and kidnapped an American journalist, wealthy Gulf royals, UN peacekeepers, and even a group of nuns.
In at least one of those cases – the kidnap of nine Qatari royals and 16 Qatari nationals by a Shiite militia in southern Iraq – Doha siphoned millions, according to Iraqi officials, to that very group: the Nusra Front, now leading an Islamist alliance known as Hayat Tahrir Al Sham (HTS).
Exchanges leaked in the US press on Saturday revealed how the tiny Gulf state had been shaken down and plundered of at least $275 million (Dh1bn) by various parties across sectarian lines in return for its nationals. Most concerning for Qatar’s Gulf neighbours, who are so focused on the battle against Al Qaeda, was arguably the large payment to HTS as part of the deal.
That extremist group is one experts say has boosted its ranks and presence in northwestern Syria as the seven-year civil war has progressed, consolidating its authority in that corner of the war-wracked country to become the most dangerous militant group in Syria, bankrolled at least indirectly by Doha.
"Al Qaeda have benefited significantly from the strategic focus of the West on ISIS, and the focus of the Russians and the Assad regime on other groups. That has allowed them a breathing space that they almost certainly would not have had otherwise," Jason Burke, expert on extremism and author of several books focusing on the group, told The National.
“They are a massive potential threat," he continued. “You’ve got a lot of people who are very experienced, who have shown themselves committed to an extremist, agenda, and who have shown themselves ready to use violence."
It remains unknown how many of Doha’s millions have entered the hands of HTS’s fighters and its leader, Abu Muhammad Al Jolani, who has appeared several times on Qatari state broadcaster Al Jazeera. But the US-prescribed terrorist organisation has now become Syria’s most active militant group, entrenching itself across Idlib and beating back ISIS cells and western-supported rebel groups.
HTS now boasts a religious police force, is battling the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad on several fronts in the country’s northwest and Al Jolani has pledged to spread Islamic law across Syria, calling on his supporters to wage “a war of ideas, a war of minds”. That it has yet to direct attacks outside of Syria belies the danger this group and its extremist ideology poses, analysts say.
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‘I felt like life was beginning again’: Qataris kidnapped in Iraq speak of joy at release
Iraq says it still has Qatari money sent to free ruling family members
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But it is not only security officials from the West to the Gulf who fear the group, but residents living under its rule, too. Growing local resistance to the group’s domination of Idlib is evident in increasingly frequent protests against HTS chief Al Jolani. Protesters chant slogans personally targeting Al Jolani in scenes reminiscent of the earliest protests against Al Assad.
"One of the common phrases going around at the moment is 'Assad is ruining the hospitals from the air, Al Jolani is ruining them from the ground' – they are starting to be seen as two sides of the same coin," a western intelligence source told The National.
“The demonstrations [against HTS] are increasing in both confidence and size, if you see the videos coming out of Idlib at the moment, it’s a real tinder box," the source continued.
A series of assassinations by unknown parties in recent weeks have also rocked the group. "It's not just one entity doing it, there are a lot of groups that have an interest in doing this. One is definitely Turkish intelligence; we know that for a fact in terms of their foreign policy of containing HTS. Idlib is awash with Turkish subversion against HTS," the intelligence source suggested to The National.
The group have also not fully recovered from the resignation of Saudi-born cleric Abdullah Al Muhaysini in September 2017, which security officials say weakened the group's authority among locals and rebels in Idlib. His unwillingness to fully endorse HTS had irked some senior figures within the group. Only this week he survived an attempt on his life.
But, while HTS is facing internal strife, its most potent threat derives from its resources.
That Qatar has paid millions to the Al Qaeda-linked group, as have several Western governments, will have subsequently made it cash-rich. The group’s inflated coffers has allowed it to spend vital funds on its terrorist infrastructure, such as propaganda, local outreach and consolidating its military positions in Idlib.
“One of the key resources for any violent extremist group is cash," said Mr Burke. “These groups need a lot of money, and the more money they have, the more capable they are."
So whatever HTS’s strength going forward, as eyes in Damascus and Moscow slowly turn towards Idlib, the Qataris’ willingness to hand millions to groups who hold an extremist world view could not only spread chaos across the region, but also in the West. Doha appears to care little about that fact, according to regional observers.
"They have zero risk of blowback internally. They do not get any suicide operations in Qatar," Mohammed Alyahya, senior fellow at the Gulf Research Centre, told The National. "There is no Al Qaeda contingent in Qatar. There is total security."
“They are treating the region as some sort of playground," he continued. “It is this adventurism that is really killing people."
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
'HIJRAH%3A%20IN%20THE%20FOOTSTEPS%20OF%20THE%20PROPHET'
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
FROM%20THE%20ASHES
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Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
match info
Chelsea 2
Willian (13'), Ross Barkley (64')
Liverpool 0
A cheaper choice
Vanuatu: $130,000
Why on earth pick Vanuatu? Easy. The South Pacific country has no income tax, wealth tax, capital gains or inheritance tax. And in 2015, when it was hit by Cyclone Pam, it signed an agreement with the EU that gave it some serious passport power.
Cost: A minimum investment of $130,000 for a family of up to four, plus $25,000 in fees.
Criteria: Applicants must have a minimum net worth of $250,000. The process take six to eight weeks, after which the investor must travel to Vanuatu or Hong Kong to take the oath of allegiance. Citizenship and passport are normally provided on the same day.
Benefits: No tax, no restrictions on dual citizenship, no requirement to visit or reside to retain a passport. Visa-free access to 129 countries.
