DUBAI: In response to opening of an embassy by the Syrian opposition in Doha, Iran on Friday denounced Qatar for enabling the opposition bloc in this regard. The Islamic republic, a close ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, also accused Qatar of “intensifying the bloodshed” in Syria.
Moaz Alkhatib-led Syrian opposition bloc recognized by the Arab League as the sole representative for Syria opened its first embassy in Qatar on Wednesday in a diplomatic blow to President Bashar al-Assad.
“It is in Qatar’s interest to stop making hasty actions and intensifying the bloodshed in Syria,” Iran’s state news agency IRNA quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian as saying.
“The wise … people of Syria will never allow others to make decisions for them,” Abdollahian said whose country has strongly backed Assad in Syria’s two-year-old conflict that began with peaceful protests and turned into an armed revolt in which some 70,000 people have been killed.
On Tuesday, the Arab League gave Syria’s seat to Moaz Alkhatib at a summit in Doha. It also endorsed the provision of military aid to Syrian rebels.
DND
