US diplomats have arrived in Syria to talk on to the brand new Islamist-led rulers, hoping to encourage a reasonable, inclusive path and to search out clues on lacking People, the State Division mentioned Friday.
It’s the first formal US diplomatic mission to Damascus because the early days of the brutal civil conflict that broke out in 2011 and culminated in a shock lightning offensive that toppled longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad this month.
The diplomats will meet representatives of victorious group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) — which is designated a terrorist group by Washington — in addition to activists, civil society and members of minority teams, the State Division mentioned.
The US officers will converse with Syrians about “their imaginative and prescient for the way forward for their nation and the way america might help help them,” a State Division spokesperson mentioned.
The delegation contains Barbara Leaf, who’s the highest State Division official for the Center East, and Daniel Rubinstein, a veteran US diplomat within the Arab world who’s being put in command of engagement on Syria, the spokesperson mentioned.
Additionally current is Roger Carstens, the US level man on hostages, who has been searching for clues on lacking People together with Austin Tice, a journalist who was kidnapped in August 2012.
The journey comes every week after Secretary of State Antony Blinken mentioned america had been in direct contact with HTS as he toured Syria’s neighbors.
At talks within the Jordanian resort of Aqaba, Western and Arab powers in addition to Turkey collectively referred to as Saturday for an “inclusive, non-sectarian and consultant authorities” that respects the rights of all of Syria’s numerous communities.
– ‘No ensures’ –
HTS has roots in Al-Qaeda, inflicting america to maintain a distance all through the civil conflict even whereas Washington additionally sought to isolate the extra secular Assad, whose household’s dictatorship ruthlessly suppressed dissent for a half-century.
For the reason that fall of Assad, HTS chief Abu Mohammed al-Jolani has struck a conciliatory tone, calling for Syrian unity, the safety of minorities and the disbanding of insurgent factions.
Blinken has mentioned it’s too early to evaluate Jolani’s sincerity and that any sanctions reduction would rely on actions.
“There are not any ensures in any respect. We have seen too many occasions one dictator could be changed by one other,” Blinken instructed The International Affairs Interview podcast on Wednesday.
“So that is fraught, however we all know virtually actually that absent our engagement, absent our management, that is the best way it’s going to go,” he mentioned.
“Now we have an opportunity, and the Syrian individuals have an opportunity, if involved international locations, together with america, work to maneuver this in a superb path.”
No determination on eradicating the HTS terrorism designation is probably going within the month till the return of president-elect Donald Trump, who has made clear that he doesn’t desire a heavy US involvement in Syria.
Trump has described Assad’s fall as an “unfriendly takeover” by Turkey, which has supported HTS and bitterly opposes Washington’s alliance with Syrian Kurdish fighters, who’ve cooperated in Washington’s paramount purpose of retaining down the ultra-violent Islamic State group.
World powers have moved rapidly since Assad’s fall to revive diplomacy in Syria, whose conflict set off an exodus of migrants that rocked Western politics.
Jolani met Monday with the UN envoy for Syria, Geir Pederson, and a day later with a German delegation.
French diplomats returned to their embassy in Damascus, elevating the tricolor flag for the primary time since 2012.
America closed its personal embassy in Damascus in February 2012 and has made no quick transfer to reopen it, with the Czech Republic representing US pursuits within the nation.
