Princeton, New Jersey: Qatari Foreign Minister Khalid Al Attiya defended on Monday his government’s connections with armed militant groups in the Middle East and its involvement in negotiating the release of hostages but denied ever paying ransoms to secure their freedom.

“No, Qatar does not pay ransoms. Again, Qatar will not apologise for any soul or life we saved in Syria. If we can mediate to save another life we will do so,” Al Attiya said in response to a question after giving a speech at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

The Gulf state, which does back some rebel factions fighting to oust Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, has mediated the release of foreign and Syrian captives on several occasions in the course of Syria’s three-year-old civil war.

Daesh, a splinter of Al Qaida, has exploited the chaos in Syria to carve out territory in the country’s eastern provinces and northern Iraq. It is accused of massacres and beheadings of civilians and soldiers.

Qatar supported the US strikes against Daesh in Syria, contributing one plane on the first night of attacks on Tuesday but did not take an active role in the operation.

Other US allies Jordan, Bahrain, the UAE and Saudi Arabia joined in the strikes.

Although the Gulf states all oppose Al Assad, Qatar has long faced criticism, including from its Gulf Arab neighbours, for using its vast oil and gas wealth to back Islamists across the region, including groups inside Syria.

Qatar assured the West on September 24 it was not aiding Daesh in Iraq and Syria.

In September it helped negotiate the release of 45 Fijian UN Peacekeepers taken hostage along the Syrian/Israeli border after being attacked by Islamist militant groups, including the Al Nusra Front, an Al Qaida affiliate, in the volatile area between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

“The Fijians were working close with us, so they saw they saw our steps and movement to release their soldiers. We don’t believe in paying ransoms. This is another way of fuelling, if you may call it supporting through the backdoor, and this we don’t do,” Al Attiya said.

Qatar helped secure the release, among others, of Peter Theo Curtis, an American held for nearly two years by Al Nusra; 13 Greek Orthodox nuns in March after more than three months of being held by Islamist fighters. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights identified the nuns captors as Al Nusra.

“Sometimes criticised, this important and complicated role should neither be questioned nor taken for granted,” he said, adding: “To the naked eye, Qatar might be a challenging case to fully understand, especially in the context of non-stop media bashing predicated by hired guns and a few lobbyists.”