Manama: Qatar has insisted that it does not have contacts under any form with the Syrian regime. “Qatar is not in contact either directly or indirectly with the Syrian regime,” the Director of the Asian Affairs department at the Foreign Ministry said.
“The only ongoing contact is with the legitimate representative of the Syrian people, the National Coalition for the forces of the revolution and the Syrian opposition,” the official said, quoted by Qatar News Agency (QNA).
The clarification on the Qatari position was issued as Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif visited the Qatari capital Doha on Monday. Qatari authorities said that the trip was “part of visits he paid recently to Kuwait and Oman for the exchange of views on the Geneva agreement on the Iranian nuclear programme.”
“The Iranian Foreign Minister had met the Emir Shaikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani. Qatar welcomed the Geneva Accord as a preliminary step for a comprehensive solution to achieve stability in the region,” the foreign ministry official said.
Bilateral ties and a number of the regional issues were also reviewed during the meeting, he added. “The Emir reiterated Qatar’s firm stand with the Syrian people and their just demands and said that Qatar welcomed a political solution that ensures the legitimate rights of the Syrian people,” he said.
Qatar shut its embassy in the Syrian capital Damascus in July 2011 and withdrew its ambassador after two attacks on the diplomatic mission compound by militiamen loyal to President Bashar Al Assad.
