Qatar PM: Syria war amounts to genocide

Emirate's premier denounces Assad forces' brutality; slams international community, UN over inability to effectively bring bloodshed to its end

AFP|Published: 10.30.12 , 09:30

The Prime Minister of Qatar Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani denounced Tuesday the ongoing civil war in Syria, calling it a "war of extermination."

Al-Thani, who also serves as the emirate's foreign minister, strongly denounced Syrian President Bashar Assad's crackdown on the pro-democracy opposition, saying that the ongoing bloody conflict in Syria amounted to genocide.

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The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR) says that more than 35,000 people have been killed since the uprising against Assad's regime began, in March 2011.

"What is happening in Syria is not a civil war but a war of extermination against the Syrian people," the sheik told Al-Jazeera TV.

Qatar's proposal to deploy an Arab peacekeeping force in Syria, brought before the Arab League, was unsuccessful.

Country in ruins (Photo: AFP)

The UN's peace envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, said Monday that despite efforts so far, the situation in Syria is getting worse. The Syrian regime denies that the country is in the midst of a civil war, but according to Brahimi, "If this is not civil war, I do not know what is."

Al-Thani said that the Syrian government had given Assad's forces "a license to kill," adding that the international community's attitude towards the crisis was, was, in effect, a similar license.

He criticized that international community over its lingering inability to effectively bring the bloodshed to its end.

"We have confidence in Mr. Brahimi… but we need to develop a clear idea for a solution before any transfer of power is possible," he said.

Brahimi idea for a ceasefire between the fighting forces for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha was short-lived, as it was violated within 24 hours.