The civil war in Syria has been raging on for several years, and there seems to be no end to it in sight.

While a few countries recently decided to normalise relationship with Syria by opening embassies there, Qatar has reiterated it has no intentions to do so.

Qatar’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani made it abundantly clear that no ‘encouraging’ signs for a normalisation of ties with the Syrian government were forthcoming, reported Al Jazeera.

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 normalisation of ties with the Syrian government. #Qatar #Syria
https://t.co/6YP8QLKZpB

— Randa HABIB (@RandaHabib) January 14, 2019

He added that they would not reopen the Qatar Embassy in Damascus and also continue to oppose an Arab League membership for Syria.

Syria’s Arab League membership 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-long 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.

“Since day one, Qatar had reasons for which it supported suspending (Arab League) membership, and those reasons are still there, so we don’t see any encouraging factors,” Sheikh Mohammed was quoted as saying by the Reuters news agency.

Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry later denied reports it was reopening its embassy in Damascus.

#Qatar Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani says no need to re-open embassy in #Syria

Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani also said Qatar still objects to Arab League membership for Syria. #Syria #Qatar pic.twitter.com/4TbjvIeWlP

— Abdinoor Ali (@elhadjiabdinoor) January 14, 2019

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.’

“Normalising relations with a regime that doesn’t respect the rights of its people is normalisation with war criminals,” Sheikh Mohamed was quoted as saying by Gulf Times.