Syria blasts Qatar, Saudi for ‘supporting terrorists’

A number of countries, including Qatar and Saudi Arabia, are supporting militant groups in Syria and bear responsibility for the bloodshed in the country, Sana news agency reported citing Minister of Information Adnan Mahmoud. “Some countries, such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which are supporting armed terrorist formations with money and weapons, are allies of terrorists fighting the Syrian people and bear the full responsibility for the bloodshed in Syria,” the minister was quoted as saying. The Ministry of Information stated on Monday that militants fighting in Syria kill civilians on purpose to later use their bodies as a tool for destabilizing the situation further, discrediting the Syrian Army and attracting the attention of the international society. More than 7,500 people have been killed since the uprising against Bashar al-Assad began a year ago. The government blames the violence on \"terrorists and armed gangs.\" Al-Jazeera reported on Monday that the Syrian government’s crackdown on the opposition had grown in ferocity as dozens of people were killed in Homs and another opposition stronghold in the northwestern province of Idlib in the past 24 hours.