HE al-Attiyah: says it is  vital that Gulf Arab states and Iran develop a normal dialogue.

Those fighting Assad on the ground needed to be given more sophisticated means to tackle the government’s “barrel bombing machine”, says al-Attiyah

By John Irish
Reuters/New York


HE the Foreign Minister Dr Khalid bin Mohamed al-Attiyah has said there is general international agreement with Russia on its call to fight Islamic State, but cautioned that it fails to tackle the root cause of the crisis in Syria, which is President Bashar al-Assad.
In an interview with Reuters,  al-Attiyah also said it was time for Gulf Arab states and Iran to hold “serious dialogue” and discuss all issues to normalise ties.
“Nobody can reject Mr Putin’s call for an alliance against terrorism, but ... we need to treat the cause,” he said. “We believe strongly that the Syrian regime, namely Bashar al-Assad, is the real cause.”
Qatar is among Arab countries that have joined in or supported US-led air strikes against Islamic State targets in Syria. However, it has questioned the lack of action by Western powers against Assad’s government.
“We can’t come together and say, ‘Bravo, you are our ally in fighting the terrorists which you (Assad) either created or brought in’,” al-Attiyah told Reuters in the interview at Qatar’s UN mission.
Al-Attiyah said those fighting Assad on the ground needed to be given more sophisticated means to tackle the government’s “barrel bombing machine”.
“They need to be given the means to defend themselves,” he said. “Only then will Bashar understand he needs to come to the table, to have this political solution with him departing.”
“We have not treated the root of the cause. You cannot bring Syrian people and force them to go and fight Islamic State only,” he said. “Their cause is not Islamic State, their cause is the regime. They will fight Islamic State, but they need to fight the regime first which created Islamic State.”
He defended Qatar’s efforts to aid Syrians fleeing the conflict in their country .
He said Doha had spent some $1.6bn in aid since the conflict broke out four years ago and during that period the number of Syrians in Qatar had increased from 20,000 to 54,000.
Al-Attiyah also said it was vital that Gulf Arab states and Iran develop a normal dialogue.  
“We need to have a serious dialogue with the Iranians. We are neighbours and can’t change the geography,” al-Attiyah said. “We have to discuss all issues and leave nothing behind and only then we can have a normal relation between neighbours.”
On Monday, HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani had also called for a dialogue between Gulf states and Iran.
Addressing the opening meeting of the 70th session of the General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York, the Emir said the Arab-Iranian differences could be solved through dialogue, and initially agreeing on the rules governing the relationship between Iran and the Gulf States on the basis of noninterference in internal affairs.
“It is time to conduct a meaningful dialogue of this kind between countries that will always remain neighbours and are not in need of mediation from anyone,” the Emir said, adding that Qatar was ready to host such a dialogue.