JEDDAH: Qatar’s foreign minister told CNN’s Becky Anderson on Tuesday that Doha believes in diplomacy with regard to the severing of ties by Arab states such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
But it is “out of the question” to impose policies on Qatar, said Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, who denied accusations that Doha supports terrorist and extremist groups.
Following are excerpts of the interview:
Q: Let me reiterate the accusations against Qatar. Saudi says it has cut ties because, and I quote, of your country’s “embrace of various terrorist and sectarian groups aimed at destabilizing the region.” They say that includes the Muslim Brotherhood and Al-Qaeda. Is that true or false?
A: With all respect, this statement is full of contradiction because it says we are supporting Iran and extremist groups in Syria, and we are supporting the Muslim Brotherhood and the Houthis. About our support to the Saudi opposition or sectarian moves, this is totally false information. Actually, cooperation between the security and intelligence agencies of Qatar and Saudi Arabia has been serving the purpose of national security.
Q: The UAE’s state minister for foreign affairs has just spoken to CNN and says Qatar’s financial and logistical support for extremist organizations like Al-Nusra Front and groups in Libya and the Sinai has gone too far. Your response?
A: There is no support going to Al-Nusra or Al-Qaeda or others. Our position is firm: To support the Syrian people’s right to justice and a free life. Whatever accusations are being thrown are all based on misinformation. The entire crisis is based on misinformation because it started based on fabricated news inserted in our national news agency, which was hacked days before.
Q: This is a flat-out denial, as Trump and the UAE minister of state for foreign affairs both suggest Qatar is involved in Islamic extremism, correct?
A: Qatar is preventing war because we are promoting peace, open diplomacy, dialogue and education. We are creating jobs for the people of the Middle East. We are replacing weapons with pens when we are educating young children in refugee camps. We are protecting the world from potential terrorists with all the work we are doing.
Q: You do have well-documented ties with groups like Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. Will you cut those ties?
A: Qatar believes in diplomacy. I want to clarify for you that Hamas had a political office in Qatar, and now their leadership is being elected inside Palestine and they are there. The leaders are coming and going in and out of Qatar for engagement and dialogue between Palestinians, which was in coordination with the Americans and the international community.
Q: There have been reports that Qatar has kicked out Hamas assets. There are still Hamas personnel in Qatar?
A: Yes. We did not ask them to leave.
Q: The Muslim Brotherhood is designated a terrorist organization by other countries, specifically Saudi and the UAE. Will you continue to have ties with the Brotherhood? This is clearly more than an irritant to your allies.
A: We do not have ties with the Muslim Brotherhood. We deal with governments. When the Muslim Brotherhood ruled Egypt, we supported Egypt… We have stated many times that we have no ties with the Muslim Brotherhood. Are we going to list them as a terrorist organization? We did not have any proof that the Muslim Brotherhood committed an act of terror. They will be listed based on the acts they have done.
Q: Unless you were to designate them, you will continue to have problems with the UAE and Saudi, correct?
A: If the problem with Saudi and the UAE is based on our foreign policy and they want to impose policies on Qatar, this is out of the question. Each country has its own sovereignty. We have repeatedly said anything that will affect the security of a country, we are courageous enough to sit and talk about it and to change course. But if there is intervention in our affairs or to change our policy because it contradicts other policies in different countries, this is not going to happen. Qatari policy is based on our principles. We always promote dialogue and engagement; that does not mean endorsement.
Q: What do the Saudis and Emiratis want you to do? And are you prepared to toe the line?
A: We have differences with Iran but we believe in dialogue. We will stick to the same principles that we are basing our dialogue on. Everyone needs to have, wants to have, a positive relationship with Iran since Iran is a neighbor. No one can change geography. We cannot change course by taking a hostile measure.
Q: There are reports of food shortages, worries about people not being to leave your country. How long do you hold out if this sort of siege, as it were, continues?
A: Right now it is business as usual. We have no problem with food supply. Yes some of our supplies come from the land border, but we have an alternative that we are prepared for. We already have storages in Qatar… a strategic reserve and strategic program. We do not see that life will be affected at all. International navigation is open. We have sea navigation, we have air navigation. Suppliers from different countries can be identified. They are already identified.
Qatar FM: Imposing policies ‘out of the question’
Qatar FM: Imposing policies ‘out of the question’
Syria authorities say torched 1 million captagon pills
DAMASCUS: Syria’s new authorities torched a large stockpile of drugs on Wednesday, two security officials told AFP, including one million pills of captagon, whose industrial-scale production flourished under ousted president Bashar Assad.
Captagon is a banned amphetamine-like stimulant that became Syria’s largest export during the country’s more than 13-year civil war, effectively turning it into a narco state under Assad.
“We found a large quantity of captagon, around one million pills,” said a balaclava-wearing member of the security forces, who asked to be identified only by his first name, Osama, and whose khaki uniform bore a “public security” patch.
An AFP journalist saw forces pour fuel over and set fire to a cache of cannabis, the painkiller tramadol, and around 50 bags of pink and yellow captagon pills in a security compound formerly belonging to Assad’s forces in the capital’s Kafr Sousa district.
Captagon has flooded the black market across the region in recent years, with oil-rich Saudi Arabia a major destination.
“The security forces of the new government discovered a drug warehouse as they were inspecting the security quarter,” said another member of the security forces, who identified himself as Hamza.
Authorities destroyed the stocks of alcohol, cannabis, captagon and hashish in order to “protect Syrian society” and “cut off smuggling routes used by Assad family businesses,” he added.
Syria’s new Islamist rulers have yet to spell out their policy on alcohol, which has long been widely available in the country.
Since an Islamist-led rebel alliance toppled Assad on December 8 after a lightning offensive, Syria’s new authorities have said massive quantities of captagon have been found in former government sites around the country, including security branches.
AFP journalists in Syria have seen fighters from Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) set fire to what they said were stashes of captagon found at facilities once operated by Assad’s forces.
Security force member Hamza confirmed Wednesday that “this is not the first initiative of its kind — the security services, in a number of locations, have found other warehouses... and drug manufacturing sites and destroyed them in the appropriate manner.”
Maher Assad, a military commander and the brother of Bashar Assad, is widely accused of being the power behind the lucrative captagon trade.
Experts believe Syria’s former leader used the threat of drug-fueled unrest to put pressure on Arab governments.
A Saudi delegation met Syria’s new leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa in Damascus on Sunday, a source close to the government told AFP, to discuss the “Syria situation and captagon.”
Jordan in recent years has also cracked down on the smuggling of weapons and drugs including captagon along its 375-kilometer (230-mile) border with Syria.
Jordan says 18,000 Syrians returned home since Assad’s fall
AMMAN: About 18,000 Syrians have crossed into their country from Jordan since the government of Bashar Assad was toppled earlier this month, Jordanian authorities said on Thursday.
Interior Minister Mazen Al-Faraya told state TV channel Al-Mamlaka that “around 18,000 Syrians have returned to their country between the fall of the regime of Bashar Assad on December 8, 2024 until Thursday.”
He said the returnees included 2,300 refugees registered with the United Nations.
Amman says it has hosted about 1.3 million Syrians who fled their country since civil war broke out in 2011, with 650,000 formally registered with the United Nations.
Lebanon hopes for neighborly relations in first message to new Syria government
- Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah played a major part propping up Syria’s ousted President Bashar Assad through years of war
- Syria’s new Islamist de-facto leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa is seeking to establish relations with Arab and Western leaders
DUBAI: Lebanon said on Thursday it was looking forward to having the best neighborly relations with Syria, in its first official message to the new administration in Damascus.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib passed the message to his Syrian counterpart, Asaad Hassan Al-Shibani, in a phone call, the Lebanese Foreign Ministry said on X.
Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah played a major part propping up Syria’s ousted President Bashar Assad through years of war, before bringing its fighters back to Lebanon over the last year to fight in a bruising war with Israel – a redeployment which weakened Syrian government lines.
Under Assad, Hezbollah used Syria to bring in weapons and other military equipment from Iran, through Iraq and Syria and into Lebanon. But on Dec. 6, anti-Assad fighters seized the border with Iraq and cut off that route, and two days later, Islamist militants captured the capital Damascus.
Syria’s new Islamist de-facto leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa is seeking to establish relations with Arab and Western leaders after toppling Assad.
Iraqi intelligence chief discusses border security with new Syrian administration
BAGHDAD: An Iraqi delegation met with Syria’s new rulers in Damascus on Thursday, an Iraqi government spokesman said, the latest diplomatic outreach more than two weeks after the fall of Bashar Assad’s rule.
The delegation, led by Iraqi intelligence chief Hamid Al-Shatri, “met with the new Syrian administration,” government spokesman Bassem Al-Awadi told state media, adding that the parties discussed “the developments in the Syrian arena, and security and stability needs on the two countries’ shared border.”
