Ex-Qatari premier: US coordinated foreign support for terrorists in Syria

Sunday, 29 October 2017

Ex-Qatari premier: US coordinated foreign support for terrorists in Syria

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Qatar’s former prime minister has revealed how the United States coordinated support by Doha, Riyadh and Ankara for terrorists operating against the Syrian government over the past years of conflict in the Arab country.

Hamad bin Jassim admitted in an interview on October 26 with Qatari national broadcaster that his country, a tiny state to the south of the Persian Gulf, was part of a group of four countries that delivered weapons and funds to the terrorists in Syria.

Hamad said Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey sent their weapons for militant groups in Syria via the US military forces in the region.

“Anything [weapons] that was sent [to Syria] would go through Turkey and was coordinated with the US, and the distribution of anything was via US forces,”the former Qatari premier said.

Hamad said the four countries only supported those armed groups designated as the moderate Syrian opposition in the West but outlawed by the Syrian government. He admitted that many of the weapons had found their way into the hands of al-Nusra Front, a group allied to al-Qaeda. Hamad rejected similar claims about supporting Daesh, the main Takfiri terrorist group operating in Syria.

‘Saudis now want Assad in power’

Hamad also censured the Saudi regime for revising its policy on Syria by forgetting previous calls for the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. He said the Saudis now wanted Assad to stay in power, a stance, he said, Riyadh was not willing to share with others.

“You [Saudi Arabia] are now saying keep Bashar. Ok let him stay, we don’t have any problem, we have no quarrel with him. He was a friend of us … But you [Saudi Arabia] were in the same trench with us, if you changed your mind, tell us so,” Hamad said.

Qatar has been locked in a political standoff with Saudi Arabia and three other Arab countries for the past months. The dispute came apparently after the situation in Syria changed dramatically in favor of government forces and terrorists were purged from key positions across the country.

Syria and Russia, its main military ally, blame the US for continued bloodshed in eastern Syria, saying they have evidence that US forces stationed in Jordan have been providing Daesh, which is losing grounds in the area, with intelligence support.