Israeli strikes shake quiet Qatar, strain US ties

Ahmed was in a university lecture when he heard the bangs: loud explosions from unprecedented Israeli air strikes targeting Hamas that shattered Qatar’s peace and put the wealthy Gulf region on edge.

“Honestly no one expected it to be an explosion (from an attack) here. I thought construction workers had dropped something heavy,” the 27-year-old Qatari student, who did not want to give his family name, told AFP.

Shock rippled across the tiny, gas-rich emirate as the strikes hit the Palestinian…