DOHA: Qatar is one of the smallest Arab states with a population of 2.4 million, 90 percent of whom are foreigners, and a total area of 11,437 square kilometers.
The country was a British protectorate for 55 years until 1971, when it refused to join the UAE and emerged as an independent kingdom.
Qatar has been ruled by Al-Thani family since the mid-19th century. The current emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, rose to power in 2013 after his father Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani abdicated the throne.
Qatar’s constitution has been in place since 2005. The constitution does not authorize political parties.
An as yet unimplemented article in its constitution stipulates that two-thirds of the country’s 45-seat consultative council be elected by popular vote.
Gas-rich Qatar has an annual per capita income of $138,480, one of the highest in the world, according to the World Bank.
The kingdom since last year has posted a budget deficit, as the state adapts to lower hydrocarbon prices.
Qatar’s economy is now projected to grow at a slower pace and it posted 2.7 percent growth in 2016, down from 4.4 percent three years ago.
Qatar is the top producer and exporter of liquefied natural gas and holds the world’s third-largest reserves. It is also a prime investor in international stocks, with a 17 percent share in Volkswagen and 10 percent of the Empire State Building in New York City.
Qatar has invested nearly $51 billion in the UK in recent years, including the purchase of high-end retailer Harrods and Sainsbury, the country’s second-largest supermarket chain.
The state owns France’s Paris Saint-Germain football club and sports channel beIN, a subsidiary of Al-Jazeera satellite television.
It is also the main shareholder of top French media group Lagardere, and Qatari investors own France’s Printemps department store.
Qatar is to host the 2022 World Cup and has invested in massive infrastructure construction estimated to top $200 billion in costs.
The controversial 2010 decision by world football’s governing body FIFA to grant Doha the honor sparked corruption investigations by Swiss and US courts.
International rights groups have also raised concern around working conditions for laborers building Qatar’s World Cup facilities.
Key facts about Qatar
Key facts about Qatar
Strikes kill nine Iran-backed fighters near Iraq-Syria border: security officials
- Iraqi authorities denounced the “blatant attacks” on bases that belong to the Hashed Al-Shaabi
- Nine fighters were killed and another 10 wounded in the strikes
BAGHDAD: Air strikes killed at least nine Iran-backed fighters in Iraq on Thursday near the Iraqi-Syrian border, two senior security officials told AFP.
Iraqi authorities denounced the “blatant attacks” on bases that belong to the Hashed Al-Shaabi, a former paramilitary group now integrated into the regular army, which also encompasses brigades from Iran-backed armed groups.
Nine fighters were killed and another 10 wounded in the strikes that targeted a base housing the US-blacklisted Harakat Ansar Allah Al-Awfiya, two security officials said.
“The base was destroyed, and the rescue teams who arrived at the site were also targeted,” one of the officials said on condition of anonymity.
The base belongs to the Hashed Al-Shaabi or the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) whose positions have been repeatedly targeted in attacks blamed on the United States and Israel since the start of the war.
The PMF said nine of its members were killed in Thursday’s attack.
It accused the US of striking its sites, and said that these bases “had no role in targeting US bases in Iraq or elsewhere.”
The PMF added that “all fighters killed were carrying out their official duties, and some were stationed near the borders.”
And it called the Hashed Al-Shaabi an “essential part of Iraq’s security apparatus.”
Iraq has long been a proxy battleground between the United States and Iran, with the country’s successive governments struggling to balance relations between the two rivals.
It was immediately dragged into the Middle East war triggered when the United States and Israel attacked Iran on February 28.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a loose alliance of several Iran-backed groups, have been claiming daily attacks against US bases in Iraq.
Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani denounced what he called “blatant attacks” on the PMF, whose members were “performing their sacred duty within the missions of our security forces.”
“This systematic and repeated aggression, and the targeting of sites and headquarters without distinction, is not merely a military violation. It represents a desperate attempt to create confusion” and weaken Iraq’s security.
