Blinken publicly confirms that US officials have been in direct contact with the Syrian rebel group that overthrew Assad.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Saturday that U.S. officials have been in direct contact with the Syrian rebel group that led the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad but it is designated a foreign terrorist organization by the United States and others.

Blinken is the first US official to publicly confirm contacts between the Biden administration and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, which led a coalition of armed opposition groups that removed Assad from power last Sunday.

At a news conference in Aqaba, Jordan, Blinken declined to discuss details of the contacts but said it was important for the United States to convey messages to the group about its conduct and how it intends to govern in a transition period.

“Yes, we have been in contact with HTS and other parties,” Blinken said. He added that “our message to the Syrian people is this: we want you to succeed and we are prepared to help you achieve it.”

Blinken also said officials “are also communicating directly with those in positions of authority in Syria.”

HTS, which was once affiliated with Al Qaeda, has been designated a foreign terrorist organization by the State Department since 2018. That designation carries severe sanctions, including a ban on providing any “material support” to the group. or its members. However, the sanctions do not legally prevent US officials from communicating with designated groups.

In an interview Saturday on Syrian television, the group’s leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, did not mention any direct contact with the United States, but said the new authorities in Damascusthe capital, are in contact with Western embassies.

HTS has worked to establish security and initiate a political transition. after seizing Damascus and has tried to reassure a public stunned by the fall of Assad and worried about extremist jihadists among the rebels. Insurgent leaders say the group has broken with its extremist past.

Al-Sharaa appeared on Friday in a video message congratulating the “great Syrian people on the victory of the blessed revolution.”

U.S. officials say al-Sharaa has been making welcome comments about protecting minority and women’s rights, but they remain skeptical that he will follow through on them in the long term.

“We know that what happens inside Syria can have powerful consequences far beyond its borders, from mass displacement to terrorism, and we know we cannot underestimate the challenges of this moment and in the weeks and months to come,” Blinken said Saturday. . .

On Friday, rebels and Syria’s unarmed opposition worked to safely hand over to U.S. officials an American man who had been imprisoned by Assad.

Blinken said U.S. officials are continuing “our own tenacious and determined efforts” as they seek Austin TiceAmerican journalist disappeared 12 years ago near Damascus.

“We have instilled in everyone we have been in contact with the importance of helping find Austin Tice and bringing him home,” Blinken said.

Travis Timmerman, the American who said he was released from a Syrian prison After Assad’s overthrow, he was taken out of the country by the US military, CBS News reported earlier this week.