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Qatar hosted a summit of leaders of Arab and Islamic nations on Monday (September 15, 2025) in the hopes of presenting a united response to Israel’s attack on Hamas leaders in Doha last week. But the group has few ways to restrain Israel as its war in the Gaza Strip grinds on.

Qatar’s ruling Emir opened the summit by accusing Israel of not caring about its hostages held in Gaza and instead only working to ”ensure Gaza is no longer livable.” Israel has said the goals of its war include bringing all the hostages back and defeating Hamas.

“If Israel wishes to assassinate the Hamas leaders, why then engage in negotiations?” Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani asked. “If you wish to insist on the liberation of hostages, why then do they assassinate all negotiators?” The speech was unusually fiery for the 45-year-old ruler of Qatar, which has served as key mediator in an effort to reach a ceasefire in the war.

“There is no room to deal with such a party that’s cowardly and treacherous,” he added. “Those who work consistently to assassinate the party in these negotiations will certainly do everything to ensure the failure of these negotiations. When they claim that they seek the liberation of hostages, that’s a mere lie.” Sheikh Tamim also denounced Israel over what he called the “genocide” it is committing in Gaza. Israel vehemently denies it is committing genocide. It says Hamas is prolonging the war by not surrendering and releasing the hostages.

Israel launched its invasion of Gaza in response to Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack, and since then it has also retaliated against the militant group and other members of Iran’s so-called Axis of Resistance elsewhere, including in Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and now Qatar.

That’s led to wider anger among Mideast nations already enraged by the over 64,000 Palestinians killed during the war in Gaza — and a growing concern that the U.S. commitment to protect Gulf Arab states may not be strong enough.

However, it remains unclear just what the summit will be able to achieve. Significant tensions among the nations meeting could blunt cooperation — and they also have few levers they can pull.

Condemnations from countries that Israel considers enemies, like Iran, will mean little. Meanwhile, the nations attending that have diplomatic recognition deals with Israel may be reluctant to sever ties.

“Considering the deep tensions between the Gulf states and other regional actors, assembling the summit in less than a week, especially given its scale, is a notable achievement that underscores a shared sense of urgency in the region,” the New York-based Soufan Center said.

“The key question is whether … (the summit will) signal a shift toward more consequential measures against Israel, including diplomatic downgrades, targeted economic actions and restrictions on airspace and access.”

A variety of regional leaders attended the summit, including Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and Syria’s interim president, Ahmad al-Sharaa.

Iran’s presence in summit

Iran, which hit a base in Qatar in June, is attending the summit. After the U.S. bombed Iranian nuclear sites in June, Iran struck Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, a major hub for American forces — a move that angered Qatar. Nevertheless, Iran sent President Masoud Pezeshkian to attend Monday’s meeting. Before leaving Tehran, Pezeshkian noted the wide breadth of nations Israel has attacked since October 7.

“This regime has attacked many Islamic countries,” he said. “It does whatever it wants, and unfortunately, the United States and European countries also support these actions.” Writing on the social platform X, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi added: “Iran stands with Qatar and indeed all Muslim brothers and sisters, particularly against the scourge that is terrorising the region.” Mr. Araghchi and Mr. Pezeshkian did not mention Iran’s attack on Qatar and received an honour guard welcome when landing in Doha.

Qatar in Israel-Hamas ceasefire talks

Qatar, an energy-rich nation on the Arabian Peninsula that hosted the 2022 World Cup, long has served as an intermediary in conflicts. For years, it has hosted Hamas’ political leadership at the request of the U.S., providing a channel for Israel to negotiate with the militant group that has controlled Gaza for years.

But as the Israel-Hamas war has raged on, Qatar increasingly has been criticised by hard-liners within Netanyahu’s government. Mr. Netanyahu himself has vowed to strike all those who organised the Hamas-led attack on Israel in 2023. And since last week’s strike, the Israeli leader has doubled down on saying Qatar remains a possible target if Hamas leaders are there.

On Sunday, U.S. President Donald Trump offered renewed support for Qatar.

“We’re with them. You know, they’ve been a great ally,” Mr. Trump said. “A lot of people don’t understand about Qatar. Qatar has been a great ally, and they also lead a very difficult life because they’re right in the middle of everything.” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was in Israel on Monday (September 15, 2025) for meetings with Mr. Netanyahu and other Israeli officials to express America’s concern over the attack on Qatar and talk about Israel’s planned new offensive on Gaza City.

Mr. Rubio declined to address Israel’s strike while speaking to journalists in Jerusalem, but said that America wanted to work with all its partners in the region on stopping Hamas and reaching a ceasefire in the war.

“We’re going to continue to encourage Qatar to play a constructive role in that regard,” Mr. Rubio said.

Mr. Netanyahu again added that Israel’s decision to attack Qatar “was a wholly independent decision by us.” Mr. Netanyahu faces increasing pressure from the Israeli public to end the war and bring home the 48 hostages still held in Gaza, whom 20 are believed by Israel to still be alive.

Published – September 15, 2025 08:07 pm IST

In a large field 45 miles (72km) from Belarus’ capital Minsk, a battle is raging.

There are giant explosions as Sukhoi-34 bombers drop guided bombs. Huge plumes of smoke darken the sky.

The whole area echoes to the sound of exploding mortar and artillery shells. Helicopter gunships join the attack, while surveillance drones sweep overhead to view the damage.

It’s only an exercise, though.

Together with other international media we’ve been brought to the Borisovsky training ground where Belarusian and Russian forces are taking part in joint manoeuvres.

It’s part of the Zapad-2025 (“West 2025”) military drills. Military attachés, too, from a variety of embassies are observing the drill from a viewing platform.

These are planned exercises – “West 2025” takes place every four years.

In 2022 200,000 troops took part, while this year’s exercises involved fewer soldiers.

Moscow and Minsk maintain that the drills are of a purely defensive nature, that they’re designed to strengthen the security of Russia and Belarus and to counter any potential external threat.

I remember hearing similar claims three and a half years ago.

In February 2022 I visited Belarus to report on the Belarusian-Russian military exercise “Union Resolve”. When the exercise was over, instead of returning home Russian troops invaded neighbouring Ukraine from the territory of Belarus.

This time Belarus insists it has nothing to hide.

Representatives of 23 states, including the US, Turkey and Hungary, watched the military exercise.

“We consider that the exercise is unprecedented in its transparency,” Major General Valery Revenko, assistant to the Belarusian defence minister, told journalists at the training ground.

“We are not threatening anyone. We are for constructive and pragmatic dialogue.”

Clearly Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk isn’t convinced. He had dubbed the “West 2025” drills “very aggressive”. Poland shut its border with Belarus ahead of the exercises, prompting an angry response from Minsk.

“West 2025” coincides with a period of heightened tension in the eastern European region. To the south, Russia shows no sign of ending its war on Ukraine.

Last week Poland accused Russia of intentionally violating its air space with a Russian drone incursion. Nato scrambled fighter jets to shoot down some of the drones.

Moscow responded by claiming that it “hadn’t planned to engage targets on Polish territory.”

Yesterday Romania revealed that a Russian drone had breached its airspace, too. In Europe there is widespread concern that such drone incursions are no accident, but a Russian strategy to test the unity and resolve of European leaders and of the Nato alliance.

Both Russia and Belarus have made efforts recently to improve ties with Washington and to construct a relationship with the Trump administration. But in the case of both Moscow and Minsk relations with Europe remain strained.

The decision by the Belarusian authorities to invite international media to the “West 2025” exercise can be seen two ways.

First, as an attempt at transparency – that’s certainly how Minsk is portraying it.

But in the explosions and the gunfire on the Borisovsky training ground there is, perhaps too, a message for the West. And first and foremost, for Europe.

That message may read something like this: “See and consider the firepower on your doorstep; confrontation with Moscow is not in your best interest.”