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Qatar official: Siege countries betrayed us

February 27, 2020 at 2:04 pm

Qatar’s Minister of State for Defence Affairs Khalid Bin Mohammad Al Attiyah in Doha, Qatar on 29 August 2019 [Defence Ministry of Qatar/Anadolu Agency]

Qatar’s Minister of State for Defence Affairs Khalid Bin Mohammad Al Attiyah has said that the countries that have imposed a siege on the small Gulf state have betrayed Doha because they did not want it to be among the developed countries, Al-Khaleej Online reported yesterday.

However, he stressed, Qatar will remain positive and will not surrender for terror. “We will meet any positive step with two positive steps,” Al Attiyah said during a lecture at one of the Qatari universities on Tuesday.

Al Attiyah noted Qatar’s flexibility, its ability to persevere and its efforts to extend friendship links with allies were the main factors which helped it overcome the consequences of the siege within 72 hours.

“The siege shocked the Qatris and the Qatari government because it was a betrayal,” Al Attiyah said. “Anyway, we needed only 72 hours to cover more than 80 per cent of the needs we would to export from the siege countries,” he added.

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“Qatar, despite its small geographical and population size, is armed with numerous force factors, including the ability to deal with the changing environment around it,” the minister said.

He noted that Qatar saw states that changed their principles so that they destroyed the Gulf Cooperation Council which had been the protector of the region and the “most secure place in the world” for four decades.