Qatar is looking for alternatives in Syria

Qatar’s Foreign Minister Khalid bin Mohamed Al-Attiyah on Tuesday stated that “Qatar has been looking for alternatives under the United Nations umbrella to save the Syrian people.”

Al-Attiyah comments came during a meeting with the Head of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, Khaled Khoja, in Doha.

Qatari news agencies said that the meeting discussed the Syrian crisis and latest developments in local and international initiatives seeking to achieve the legal rights of the Syrian people and keeping to maintain regional and national unity though an independent and sovereign Syria.

The foreign minister stressed Qatar’s continued “steadfast” support for the Syrian opposition, based on what it calls a “humanitarian and ethical responsibility” to protect Syrians from the oppression of the ruling regime.

Meanwhile, the National Coalition said in a statement that Khoja discussed with Al-Attiyah the “dangerous repercussions” of the war in Syria.

Khoja also discussed the importance of starting a joint movement, including with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and other countries, to stop the military escalation of the conflict, which endangers Syrian unity, and to revive political pathway, starting with the Geneva II and UNSC resolutions.

Since the uprisings started in 2011, more than 300,000 Syrians have been killed and more than 10 million have been internally and externally displaced as a result of the fighting.