The Emir of Qatar has denied that his country is funding terrorism in Syria despite widespread accusations from Western governments.

Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, the 34-year-old ruler of the wealthy Gulf state, conceded however that Qatari definitions of terrorism were not always the same as those in Britain and the US.

Western intelligence has long believed that the Qatari government has collaborated with its wealthy citizens to provide weapons and funds to Sunni extremist groups inside of Syria.

The US Treasury last year designated a prominent Qatari businessman as a "global terrorist" and accused him of sending hundreds of thousands of pounds to al-Qaeda's affiliate in Syria.

Although Qatar is considered a US ally it has allowed Abdul Rahman al-Nuaimi to walk free on the streets of Doha and maintain close links with the government.

Sheikh al-Thani said in an interview with CNN: "We don't fund extremists. He added that terrorism was "not acceptable in our culture and our religion" and denied his country funded terror groups.

However, he insisted that the West needs "to see the difference between" Islamist rebels fighting against the Assad regime and terrorist groups.

"There are differences between some countries, of who are the terrorists and who are the maybe Islamist groups, but we don't consider them as terrorists," he said

Sheikh al-Thani, who was educated at Harrow and Sandhurst, has allowed Hamas to base its political leadership in his country. Hamas is considered a terrorist group by both Britain and the US.

Qatar is also alleged to have flown huge amounts of weapons to Islamist rebels in Libya who have forced the Western-backed government out of Tripoli.

However, Qatar is one of five Arab nations that has joined in airstrikes against Isil in Syria and a White House official insisted they were "fully a part of this coalition" against the jihadists.

US officials had privately expressed frustration that Qatari money was funding Islamist fighters in Syria who were battling against the American backed-Syrian rebels.

The White House aide acknowledged that the US and Qatar had not always been on the same page in terms but insisted the two countries were now "working together in channeling that assistance to the same, legitimate opposition".

Sheikh al-Thani said he disagreed with the US policy of focusing on Isil but not interfering with the Assad regime in Damascus.

"I agree that we have to counter terrorism, yes. But I believe that the main cause of all this is the regime in Syria and this regime should be punished," he said.

He also said his country had "a strong law against funding terrorist groups".

Daniel Byman, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute said Qatar had often willingly failed to enforce anti-terror laws and allowed the flow of funding to Sunni extremists to continue.

"The government often passes the right laws but then doesn't enforce them," Mr Byman said. "They have not put significant barriers in the way of this kind of thing and a lot of people believe the government has in fact knowingly allowed it to happen."