US President Barack Obama plans to thank the Qatari ruler during his Washington visit for hosting an American air base in the Persian Gulf and his help with many US intervention bids in Muslim nations, including channeling of arms to militant gangs in Syria.

Obama reportedly also intends to “press” Qatar’s Emir Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani “to ensure” that the massive amounts of weapons Qatar is purchasing and shipping to anti-Damascus insurgents does not end up with the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front militants “and other extremist groups” fighting the Syrian government when he welcomes the Qatari dictator to the White House on Tuesday, The Washington Post reports.

According to the report, “allegations” that “some Qatari aid is flowing to extremist” militant gangs in Syria have been made “primarily by Qatar’s Persian Gulf neighbors, which are rivals for regional influence” and have their own aims and objectives in the anti-Damascus intervention.

“All are friends of the United States, and their rivalry has put the Obama administration in a difficult position as it tries to establish the parameters of its Syria policy,” the influential US daily adds in its Tuesday report.

Further pointing to Washington’s efforts to keep its anti-Syria so-called “core group” together, the report adds that Obama also held talks earlier this month with United Arab Emirates (UAE) Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Saudi Arabia’s long-time Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal in separate meetings in Washington.

In addition to US, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, the US-led ‘core group’ includes France, Britain, Turkey, Germany, Italy, Jordan, UAE and Egypt.

In the next few weeks, the daily adds, Obama will also host Jordanian despot King Abdullah and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Washington to further discuss the US-led armed intervention efforts to overthrow the government of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria, the only country in the region that has actively supported Palestinian resistance against premier American foreign ally, the Israeli regime.

Turkey and Jordan share borders with Syria and play host to thousands of Syrian refugees, displaced by the ongoing foreign-backed insurgency in the country.

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