A French probe has shown that regular accusations leveled at Qatar that it finances terrorism are "not true", Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Wednesday.

"We had our intelligence services carry out precise investigations that showed that was not true," Fabius said of the lingering accusations against the tiny, oil-rich Gulf state.

A leading Islamic organization has called on the United Nations to make "contempt of religions" illegal and urged the West to protect Muslim communities following the attack on French magazine Charlie Hebdo.

The Qatar-based International Union of Muslim Scholars, headed by  influential preacher Yusuf al-Qaradawi, appealed to Muslims to continue peaceful protests against images of the Prophet Mohammed but "not to resort to any violence".

Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Daryan underlined the importance of keeping Lebanon at a distance from the developments in Arab countries, in particular the states of the Gulf Cooperation Council, the state-run National News Agency reported on Tuesday.

“Any interference in the affairs of Arab countries doesn't express the opinion of Dar al-Fatwa,” Daryan stressed during talks with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser al-Thani in Doha.

The U.S. military will send more than 400 troops to train Syrian rebel forces as part of a long-planned effort to build up a moderate opposition to take on the Islamist State group, the Pentagon said Friday.

Qatar warned Friday that publishing cartoons of Prophet Mohammed would "fuel hatred and anger", as a leading Muslim body called for peaceful protests against French weekly Charlie Hebdo.

Qatar "condemned the reprinting by French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and other European press of pictures offensive to Prophet Mohammed," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Canadian foreign minister John Baird said he had a "fruitful" meeting with his Egyptian counterpart Thursday to seek the release of a Canadian journalist imprisoned with two Al-Jazeera colleagues.

But Baird played down expectations that his visit could see Canadian-Egyptian Mohamed Fahmy freed imminently after more than a year in jail.

Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal remains welcome in Qatar, the Gulf state's foreign minister said on Monday, brushing off claims that the Palestinian leader had been asked to leave.

"Khaled Meshaal is a dear guest in Qatar. He is in fact at home," Khalid al-Attiyah said, denying that the head of Hamas' politburo was set to relocate to Turkey.

Qatar's international reserves hit an all-time high of $46.5 billion (39 billion euros) in November and are expected to climb higher despite falling oil prices, Qatar National Bank figures revealed.

The latest figure was a jump of almost $7 billion on the level of reserves recorded by the energy-rich Gulf state at the same time in 2013.

Three Al-Jazeera journalists faced Friday the prospect of at least several more weeks in Egyptian prison, with two of them awaiting a decision on whether they can be deported, lawyers and relatives said.

Australian Peter Greste, Egyptian-Canadian Mohamed Fahmy and Egyptian Baher Mohamed were detained in December 2013 for spreading false information and accused of aiding the blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood.

Egyptian and Qatari intelligence officials have met to arrange talks between leaders of the two countries to end a row over the ouster of president Mohamed Morsi, a diplomatic source said Wednesday.

The planned summit is part of reconciliation efforts brokered by Saudi Arabia after Qatar this month pledged its "full support" for Egypt.