Qatar seeks Wahhabization of world: Academic

Qatar is using the war on Syria in order to pursue the systematic and gradual Wahhabization of the world, an academic tells Press TV. In an article published by Press TV, Iranian author and Middle East expert Dr. Ismail Salami said Qatar is sowing a “bad seed in the fertile soil of the world--a systematic and gradual Wahhabization of the world.” Raising the question about why Qatar is spending money and resources on fueling the crisis in Syria by providing financial and military support for groups affiliated to al-Qaeda, Salami said Doha encourages a corrupt ideology known as Wahhabism “which may gradually inflame and subdue the entire world.” “Informed sources have recently exposed that in the heart of Doha stand centers for training assassins of different nationalities who are dispatched to Syria to fight against the government of Bashar al-Assad,” the Iranian academic wrote. Salami added that Qatar is conducting an extensive and intensive recruitment program in improvised countries including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Chechnya. The author said Al Thani is a ruler who ascended to the throne through staging a bloodless coup against his own father in 1995 and apparently encourages a corrupt ideology known as Wahhabism which is being promoted through a political mouthpiece known as Al Jazeera. Salami added that militants trained by Qatar, which has been fighting a proxy war in Syria, are dispatched to Libya, Turkey and Jordan and infiltrated Syria through these countries. “The tiny, oil- and gas-rich emirate has been shipping arms to the Syrian militants fighting the government of President Bashar al-Assad since 2011,” Salami noted, adding that the Qatari government has so far spent over USD 3 billion on war with Syria. Syria has been gripped by deadly unrest since 2011. According to reports, the Western powers and their regional allies - namely Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey - are supporting militants operating inside Syria. More than 100,000 people have been killed since the beginning of the conflict in Syria in March 2011.