Even if the U.S. government under Donald Trump stops supporting the Syrian rebels, Qatar will continue arming them in their struggle against the Bashar Assad regime, said Qatar Foreign Minister Mohamed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani in an interview with Reuters.
Qatar’s top diplomat did however emphasize his country will not take action on its own to provide “shoulder-launched” arms to the rebels.
The Obama administration was the main hurdle preventing the delivery of any such weapons to the Syrian rebels. The rebels say these weapons makes them capable of confronting air attacks launched by the Assad regime and its allies, and prevent the killings of thousands of Syrian men, women and children, along with preventing any destruction of Syria’s cities. In another measure aimed at pleasing the mullahs in Iran the Obama administration has constantly prevented the delivery of major weapons to the Syrian rebels.
Bashar Assad himself is like the fuel on the Daesh (ISIS/ISIL) fire. Assad forces kill civilians and thus push more forces to swing more towards the extremist groups, the Qatari foreign minister continued, adding there have been no efforts by Assad to fight against Daesh.
Qatar prefers to have the U.S. along its side, he emphasized. Yet if they decide to change their decision on Syria, we, at least here in Qatar, will not change ours. Our stance is based on the standards of our values and how we evaluate the situation on the ground, he continued.
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