The death of Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Qatar’s former emir, on 12 July 2026 has drawn a succession of Arab heads of state, senior royals, and parliamentary delegations to Doha, where his son, Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, began receiving mourners at Lusail Palace on Monday. The official mourning period, set to last three days, has also seen condolence books opened at Qatari embassies across the region, as governments move to acknowledge the 74-year-old’s role in shaping Qatar’s modern foreign policy and his personal interventions in regional crises.

Lebanese officials, spanning the presidency, premiership, and the Amal Movement, framed their tributes around Sheikh Hamad’s support during the 2006 war and his mediation that produced the 2008 Doha Agreement, which ended an 18-month political deadlock in Beirut. President Joseph Aoun led a delegation to Lusail, while Prime Minister Nawaf Salam attended separately. A statement from Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri’s Amal Movement, delivered at the Qatari embassy in Beirut, said the late emir “will not be forgotten by the Lebanese in general and the people of the south in particular for standing with them in the most difficult circumstances.” Defence Minister Michel Menassa, also signing the embassy’s condolence book, cited the emir’s “white hands after the July 2006 aggression and his good offices at the Doha conference.”

Algeria dispatched a high-level delegation on the instructions of President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, led by Council of the Nation speaker Azzouz Nasseri and including the interior and defence ministry secretaries-general. In Algiers, Prime Minister Sifi Gharib signed the condolence register at the Qatari embassy on the president’s behalf, with state media reporting that the late emir had “a special affection for Algeria” and that his repeated visits had woven “strong bonds of brotherhood and cooperation.” The United Arab Emirates sent two separate senior missions: Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and later Vice President Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed alongside Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, both offering condolences at Lusail. Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, conveyed a message of sympathy through the Qatari embassy in Tehran, with Iranian media noting the former emir’s 1995 bloodless assumption of power and his unexpected 2013 abdication to his son.

Beyond the immediate region, Rwandan President Paul Kagame, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani, and Libyan Presidential Council head Mohamed al-Menfi were among those received by Emir Tamim. The breadth of the attendance reflects the diplomatic network built during Sheikh Hamad’s 18-year rule, when Qatar leveraged its gas wealth to position itself as a mediator in conflicts from Lebanon to Darfur. The reception of condolences is scheduled to continue through Wednesday, with further delegations expected before the conclusion of the official mourning period.