Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani says the thought of regional unity in direction of Syria is ‘wishful pondering’.
Qatar is just not contemplating normalising ties with Syria and hopes different nations will likely be discouraged from taking additional steps with President Bashar al-Assad’s authorities, international minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani has mentioned.
His feedback at a joint information convention with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington have been in response to a query on a go to this week by the international minister of fellow Gulf state the United Arab Emirates to Damascus.
“It will likely be wishful pondering to have all of the nations within the area united in terms of the difficulty of Syria, and we hope that nations will likely be discouraged from taking additional steps with the Syrian regime so as to not (worsen) the distress of the Syrian folks,” Al Thani mentioned on Friday.
“We don’t see any critical steps by the Assad regime displaying his dedication to restore the injury that he made for his personal nation and folks,” he added.
Qatar was amongst a number of regional states together with Saudi Arabia that backed rebels in Syria’s decades-old civil battle. Some just like the UAE have sought to normalise ties after Assad regained management of many of the nation.
The UAE earlier this 12 months known as for Syria to be readmitted to the Arab League. On Tuesday, Overseas Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed met with Assad in Damascus within the first such go to by a senior Emirati dignitary because the civil battle erupted.
Washington, which opposes efforts to normalise ties with Assad till progress is made in direction of a political answer to the battle, mentioned it was involved concerning the transfer by the UAE, considered one of its allies.
At Friday’s press convention, Blinken mentioned the US is worried about “the alerts that a few of these visits and engagements are sending”.
“I’d merely urge all of our companions to recollect the crimes that the Assad regime has dedicated and certainly continues to commit. We don’t assist normalisation,” he added.
Final month, the Emirati economic system ministry mentioned it had agreed with its Syrian counterpart to reinforce commerce and financial cooperation.
Ties between the 2 nations have slowly rekindled because the UAE reopened its embassy in Damascus in late 2018. In March 2019, bin Zayed mentioned the UAE supposed “to make sure that Syria returns to the Arab area”.
Final month, al-Assad held a cellphone name with Jordan’s King Abdullah II. The dialog was preceded by the complete reopening of a fundamental border crossing between the 2 nations in September.