Qatar rules out military intervention in Syria

Qatar’s foreign minister Khalid al Attiyah has ruled out boots on the ground in Syria, adding that financial aid is more needed in the war-torn country.

Despite having recently claimed that Qatar would consider "military intervention" to protect Syrians caught in a war between the Syrian army and opposition fighters, al Attiyah ruled out the possibility of Qatari ground forces or air strikes being deployed, in an interview with Al Jazeera to be aired on Friday.

“[It] is out of the question to have our soldiers' [feet] on the ground," he said.

"They can liberate their country themselves. What they want is financial support, they want people to listen to them."

• Asked by UpFront host Mehdi Hasan about Qatar's support for the controversial rebel group Ahrar al Sham, which has been accused by human rights groups of possible war crimes, al Attiyah said: "I don’t think Ahrar al Sham committed any of these crimes."

He also "guaranteed" that the group has no links to al-Qaeda, despite the late Ahrar al Sham commander Abu Khalid al Suri once proclaiming his allegiance to al-Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri.

A week earlier, in an interview with CNN, al Attiyah suggested Qatar could intervene militarily following Russia's intervention in support of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but said it still preferred a political solution to the crisis.

Those comments drew a swift reply from Assad's government with a senior official warning that Damascus would respond harshly to "direct aggression."

Asked by CNN if Qatar supported the Saudi position of possible military action in response to Russia's intervention, al Attiyah had said: "Anything that protects the Syrian people and Syria from partition, we will not spare any effort to carry it out with our Saudi and Turkish brothers, no matter what this is."...............http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/10/qatar-rules-military-intervention-syria-151029190901348.html
29/10/15
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