Qatar’s foreign minister said on Monday that he saw no need to re-open an embassy in Damascus, nor any encouraging signs for a normalization of ties with the government of President Bashar al-Assad. Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani also said Qatar still objects to Arab League membership for Syria, which was suspended in 2011 over the government’s violent response to protests at the start of what turned out to be an almost eight-year-old war. Some Arab states, including ones that once backed rebels against Assad, are seeking to reconcile with him after decisive gains by his and allied forces in the war. Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry later denied reports it was reopening its embassy in Damascus. The United Arab Emirates re-opened its embassy there last month and Bahrain said its embassy, and the Syrian mission in Manama, had been operating “without interruption”.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-qatar-idUSKCN1P80I8