Qatar urges 'shared role' in Syria after Saudi threat

Qatar has urged the international community to share the responsibility of funding humanitarian aid for Syria, after Saudi Arabia said Doha should foot the bill of US military presence there.

Qatar's foreign minister made the comments on Wednesday, while at an international conference on Syria to raise aid for people in need inside Syria.

"Syria is the world's worst humanitarian catastrophe," Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani tweeted.

"It is our collective responsibility as an international community to urgently act to increase urgent humanitarian aid and find a political solution," Sheikh Mohammed added.

The top diplomat also announced that Doha pledged $100 million to alleviate the Syrian humanitarian disaster during the two-day conference in Brussels, the Qatar News Agency  reported.

"Fifty percent of the grant will be allocated to educate Syrian students inside and outside Syria," Sheikh Mohammed said.

International donors on Wednesday pledged $4.4 billion in aid for 2018 for civilians caught up in the Syrian civil war - well short of what the UN says is needed for humanitarian work in Syria and neighbouring countries.

Several major donors including the United States failed to confirm their pledges.

Sheikh Mohammed's comment come after the Saudi Foreign Minister warned that Qatar faced imminent demise unless it funded a US military presence in Syria.

Adel al-Jubeir said Qatari troops should replace US soldiers in northern Syria or Washington could pull its support for Doha leading to its downfall.

Riyadh has led a blockade on Qatar since June.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt have cut ties with Doha, accusing it of supporting terrorism and being too close to Iran. Qatar strongly denies the claim.

Qatari pro-government daily al-Raya responded directly to Jubeir's threat on Thursday in an editorial report, which stressed Doha was "capable of protecting itself and had nothing to fear".

"It seems Jubeir has lost his way in diplomacy. His inflammatory language is un-diplomatic as he lies like a child," the report said.