The Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs has denied allegations that it backed the Houthis in Yemen in their efforts to overthrow the UN-recognised government, based in Saudi Arabia.
On Monday, exiled Prime Minister Moeen Abdul Malik Saeed accused Qatar of backing the Houthi movement, which forms part of the National Salvation Government (NSG), based in the Yemeni capital Sanaa.
His comments were made in a speech delivered during his visit to Egypt yesterday, according to the Egyptian Middle East News Agency (MENA).
“From an early stage, Doha has supported the Houthi militia with funds, weapons, media, and networks and worked to destabilise Yemen,” the prime minister is quoted as saying.
However Qatar’s the Peninsula reported that the Foreign Ministry expressed “deep surprise” that Doha was accused of being involved in the Yemen war. Qatar has also conveyed its “categorical rejection and denunciation of the false accusations made by the Yemeni Prime Minister”.
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The ministry also called on the Yemeni officials to distance themselves from intra-regional conflicts and called on them not to exploit the tragedy of their people in favour of conflicts that have nothing to do with them, likely in reference to the on-going blockade on Qatar imposed by four Gulf states and Egypt since 2017. Qatar also affirmed its solidarity with the Yemeni people.
Prior to the blockade, Qatar was part of the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis in an apparent effort to reinstate the UN-backed Yemen government of President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.
The latest allegations made against Qatar follow a report by the German weekly newspaper Die Zeit on Friday which cited a “German private security contractor”, referred to only as Jason. G, who works for “various security and intelligence agencies” claiming that the tiny Gulf state has been financing the Lebanese resistance movement, Hezbollah which also forms part of the Lebanese government. The donations are said to have been made by “government officials through a charity organisation in Doha”, wrote veteran journalists Yassin Musharbash and Holger Stark.
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