Syria has apologised to Qatar for an attack by demonstrators on its embassy in Damascus that prompted it to suspend work in the strife-torn country, an official in Doha said yesterday. “Syria has sent a letter of apology to the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” the official said on condition of anonymity. A diplomatic source in Doha said protesters had attacked the embassy in Damascus with stones and eggs on July 11, the same day they had targeted US and French diplomatic missions in the Syrian capital. A Qatari official told AFP on Monday that the country’s ambassador to Damascus had quit Syria and the embassy has suspended its work. “The diplomats have left Syria and work has been suspended until further notice,” the official, who declined to be identified, had said while refusing to specify the date of the ambassador’s departure and reasons for leaving. Qatar had long enjoyed cordial relations with Damascus but recently Al Jazeera, the Doha-based pan-Arab satellite news channel, has come under criticism by the Syrian authorities for its coverage of the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime that erupted in mid-March. In late April nearly 100 people gathered outside Al Jazeera’s Damascus offices, accusing the channel of “lies” and of “exaggeration” in its coverage of the protests.

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