Qatar slams Egypt for Assad support

Qatar’s foreign minister has criticised Egypt’s support for the regime of Bashar Al-Assad in Syria, describing it as “unfortunate”. Shaikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani made his comments in an interview with Reuters, during which he hit out at Egypt for appearing to side with Assad, despite normally being a close ally of the Gulf States.

The minister denounced Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, whose flagging economy has received billions of dollars from the Gulf, for supporting Russia’s decision to bomb civilian areas in support of Assad.

“Unfortunately Egypt is supporting the [Syrian] regime,” he said. “We hope that it comes back to be with us.” Support for Assad, he claimed, is the same as supporting terrorism, “because he is a terrorist and he is on equal footing with Daesh.”