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By Humeyra Pamuk
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Senior diplomats from the Biden administration are in Damascus on Friday to meet with the new Syrian authorities led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a State Department spokesman said, in the first official meeting and in person between Washington and Syria. new de facto rulers.
The State Department’s top Middle East diplomat, Barbara Leaf, Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, Roger Carstens, and newly appointed Senior Advisor Daniel Rubinstein, who is now tasked with leading the Department’s involvement in Syria, are the first U.S. diplomats to travel to Damascus since Syrian opposition militias toppled. The oppressive president Bashar al-Assad.
The visit comes as Western governments are gradually opening channels to HTS and its leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, and begin to debate whether or not to remove the group’s terrorist designation. The American delegation’s trip follows contacts with France and Great Britain in recent days.
In their meetings, US officials will discuss with HTS representatives a series of principles such as inclusion and respect for the rights of minorities that Washington wants to include in Syria’s political transition, the spokesperson said.
The delegation will also work to obtain new information about American journalist Austin Tice, who was captured during a reporting trip to Syria in August 2012, and other American citizens who disappeared during the Assad regime.
“They will engage directly with the Syrian people, including members of civil society, activists, members of different communities, and other Syrian voices about their vision for the future of their country and how the United States can help them,” the department said. the spokesperson said.
“They also plan to meet with HTS representatives to discuss transition principles supported by the United States and its regional partners in Aqaba, Jordan,” the spokesperson said.
The United States cut diplomatic relations with Syria and closed its embassy in Damascus in 2012.
In a seismic moment for the Middle East, Syrian rebels took control of Damascus on December 8, forcing Assad to flee after more than 13 years of civil war, ending his family’s decades-long rule.
The lightning offensive raised questions about whether the rebels will be able to ensure an orderly transition.
Forces under the command of al-Sharaa, better known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, replaced the Assad family government with a three-month transitional government that had been ruling a rebel enclave in the northwestern province of Idlib. from Syria.
In 2013, Washington designated al-Sharaa a terrorist, saying it had been tasked by al-Qaeda in Iraq to overthrow Assad’s government and establish Islamic sharia law in Syria. He said the Nusra Front, the predecessor of the HTS, carried out suicide attacks that killed civilians and adopted a violent sectarian view.
US President Joe Biden and his top advisers described Assad’s overthrow as a historic opportunity for the Syrian people who have lived for decades under his oppressive regime, but they also warned that the country faced a period of risk and uncertainty.
Washington remains concerned that the ISIS extremist group could seize the moment to resurrect itself and also wants to avoid any clashes in the country’s northeast between Turkish-backed rebel factions and the U.S.-allied Kurdish militia.
