On a patch of desert far from Syria, dozens of men gathered under a white tent to commemorate Abdelqader Saleh, a renowned Syrian rebel commander who died this week from wounds after an air strike in Aleppo.
The mourners, who included senior Syrian opposition members and relatives of Saleh, assembled on Tuesday evening in the empty expanses of Qatar, 20 km (13 miles) from the skyscraper-dotted skyline of the gas-exporting Gulf Arab state.
The unusual scene testified to how deeply one of the world’s richest nations has engaged with the cause of Syrians struggling for the past 32 months to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad.
Qatar has long armed and supplied Saleh’s Islamist al-Tawhid brigades, one of the largest rebel units operating in the sprawling northern city of Aleppo and the surrounding region