Qatar has no plans to normalize ties with Syria, the Gulf state's foreign minister said, after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad won a fourth term in office last week in an election derided by the opposition and the West as a farce.
Qatar was among several regional states including Saudi Arabia that backed rebels in Syria's decade-old civil war. Some like the United Arab Emirates have sought to normalize ties after Assad regained control of most of the country.
"So far we see nothing on the horizon for a political solution acceptable to the Syrian people ... the (regime's)approach and conduct has not changed," Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani told U.K.-based Al Araby television in an interview aired on Friday.
"There is no motivation for us to re-establish ties with the Syrian regime at this time," Sheikh Mohammed said. "The Syrian regime is committing crimes against its people."
Syria's government said that Wednesday's election shows the country is functioning normally despite the war which has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced 11 million.