Rai al-Yawm newspaper’s sources pointed out that Qatar's offer to compensate for Russian gas to Europe may increase the tension in its relations with Russia.

There has been a lot of speculation that Qatar is supporting the Syrian opposition with money and weapons to overthrow the Syrian government because it would not allow Doha to build a pipeline diagonally across Syria and into Turkey from where it could reach Europe.

The Qatari Emir left Algeria and headed towards Tunisia, where he will conclude his Arab tour, which began in Sudan on Wednesday.

Before leaving, Al Thani met with Kerry at his residence in the Algerian capital city, as Kerry was also visiting Algeria.

During the meeting, the two discussed a number of regional and international issues, particularly the latest developments in the Middle East, according to the Qatar News Agency.

A few years ago there was talk of a new gas pipeline running through Iran and Iraq to Damascus and then possibly onto Europe via LNG ports off the Syrian coast. Coincidentally enough, this was around the time when the Syrian foreign-hatched war started.

Qatar didn’t like the sound of this. It was more interested in sending its share of the South Pars field into Europe via a gas pipeline through Syria and into Turkey, where it could link up with the major Eastern European gas pipelines. It’s no surprise then to see that Qatar is a major supplier of funds to militant groups in Syria, reportedly funneling in US$3 billion to support the overthrow of the Syrian government since the conflict began.

NTJ/HH