Qatar, May 26: Lebanon's peace deal has cast new light on the prominent role sought by Qatar, a tiny energy-rich Gulf country aspiring to take on a larger Mideast regional diplomatic role while also bidding to host an upcoming Olympics.

The deal negotiated with the help of Qatar's ruler is just the latest example of small but rich Gulf countries ``punching above their weight to get recognized,'' said David Butter, Middle East regional director at the London-based Economist Intelligence Unit. Qatar in particular is known across the Middle East for punching in different directions at the same time, which makes its foreign policy one full of contradictions. It bankrolls the region's most-watched satellite TV station, Al Jazeera, at odds with most Mideast governments. It also hosts the U.S. military's Central Command, which oversees American operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. For the past 12 years, the Qatari capital of Doha has also been home to an Israel trade office, manned by foreign ministry employees _ despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties between this conservative Muslim sheikdom and the Jewish state.

Yet Qatar also enjoys the trust of Shiite Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, backed by Iran, and regularly welcomes Hamas members. Both groups are listed by the U.S. and Israel as terrorist organizations.

Overall, that means Qatar is not only America's friend in the region, but also an ally of Washington's archrival, Iran. In the Lebanon deal, Qatar drew from the stock of confidence it had established in the past two years on both sides of the Lebanese divide, plus confidence it had developed with each faction's outside sponsors _ the United States, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria and France, analysts said. ``Qatar was the only country that had enough trust and money to back up any promises they make,'' said Karim Makdisi, a political scientist at the American University of Beirut.

Qatar recently had a rapprochement after years of rivalry with Saudi Arabia, the region's dominant power, which 18 years ago brokered an agreement to end the 1975-1990 Lebanese civil war. Mending fences with Riyadh is what analysts say turned out to be the crucial move that allowed Qatar to lead an Arab League delegation to Beirut last week, and invite members of warring Lebanese factions to Doha for talks. Qatar's emir, Sheik Hamad Khalifa al-Thani, presided over five days of negotiations in Doha that culminated in Wednesday's deal. The agreement ended a year-and-a-half long political stalemate that had boiled over into armed conflict, killing at least 67 in Beirut and across the country.

It was by far the biggest diplomatic success so far for Qatar. But policing the Lebanon pact will fall to more-powerful countries like the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria and France, said Najeeb al-Nauimi, a Doha-based lawyer and Qatar's former justice minister. ``These countries are the guarantors of the agreement,'' al-Nauimi said. ``Qatar will keep talking to them to implement its provisions on the ground in Lebanon.''

Those countries, the region's traditional mediators, all have their own interests in Lebanon, meaning none was able to assume the role of a credible broker as Qatar did, Makdisi said.

Qatar _ wealthy but tiny _ still can gain influence mostly only through its ability to influence such heavyweights, he and others noted. That may be the reason it seeks to keep relations with all sides.

Qatar is the world's largest exporter of liquefied gas. One of the world's smallest countries with a population of less then a million people, it also boasts the world's largest per capita GDP _ at an astounding US$40,000.

Its bid for the summer 2016 Olympic games is seen by many as another way for it to ``punch above its weight'' _ seeking both world notice and regional influence and admiration.

As part of that bid, Qatar has increased its hosting of world-class sporting events in recent years. It also has invited Israeli athletes to compete inside the country in recent months and recently hosted an interfaith dialogue conference that included rabbis from Israel.