U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken mentioned Saturday that the U.S. has made direct contact with Syria’s Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) rebels, as they transition from a militant insurgency towards a extra reputable governing authority.
“We’ve been involved with HTS and with different events,” Blinken mentioned after talks in Aqaba, Jordan, with diplomats and representatives from a number of Arab nations.
The U.S. designates HTS a terrorist group, making it legally unattainable to work with the group, however contact underscores ongoing efforts to vary that designation because the U.S. and its allies look to assist Syria’s transition from Assad rule.
In a joint assertion launched after the assembly, the governments of the U.S., Turkey, E.U., and Arab Countries known as for a “a extra hopeful, safe and peaceable future” in Syria, stressing respect for girls and minorities, and stopping “the reemergence of all terrorist teams.”
The assertion confused that “the transitional political course of have to be Syrian-led and Syrian-owned; produce an inclusive, non-sectarian and consultant authorities.”
There have been no representatives from Syria on the assembly.
The talks mirror cautious optimism over HTS’s evolving position in governing Syria, with early indicators of efforts to determine stability after 13 years of civil battle, and inside the nation’s many factions.
Front of thoughts for Washington is the return of American journalist Austin Tice, who disappeared in Syria over a decade in the past. Blinken mentioned in Jordan that he had emphasised the significance of discovering Tice throughout talks with Syria’s new events.
Tice is assumed to have been taken captive close to Damascus in August 2012 whereas he was overlaying the nation’s civil battle. But whereas 1000’s of prisoners have been launched when HTS took management of Damascus, Tice’s whereabouts stay unknown.
Obaida Al-Arnaot, an official spokesperson for Syria’s interim authorities, mentioned it had tried to search out Tice, who’s 43, to reunite him together with his household however had up to now had no luck. President Joe Biden instructed reporters final week that efforts have been ongoing to pinpoint his location in Syria.
In one other signal of the shifting dynamics, Turkey introduced Sunday that it has reopened its embassy in Damascus after 12 years, whereas faculties and universities have additionally resumed operations in areas previously managed by Assad.
As the transition continues, there may be explicit concern for Syria’s minority teams. Kurdish communities, particularly, have expressed wariness about HTS, given the group’s previous affiliation with Al-Qaeda and the unsure way forward for ethnic and non secular minorities beneath their management.
In a message to the Kurds, HTS chief, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, previously recognized by the nom de guerre, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, sought to ease fears with a press release on Saturday, stating that Kurds are “a part of the homeland” and “there will likely be no injustice” in opposition to them.
“The coming Syria can have the Kurds as its foundations, and we are going to stay collectively in it, and everybody will take their rights,” he mentioned.
The message is a part of HTS’s ongoing efforts to venture a extra reasonable picture and distance itself from its Al-Qaeda previous, even because the U.S. continues to view the group as a terrorist group. In 2018, the U.S. positioned a $10 million bounty on Al-Sharaa’s head.
But U.S. engagement with HTS could sign a possible shift of their method.
Biden has already outlined continued U.S. involvement in Syria, with out commenting on whether or not Washington would take away or rethink the designation.
“We will interact with all Syrian teams, together with inside the course of led by the United Nations, to determine a transition away from the Assad regime, towards unbiased, sovereign and unbiased,” he mentioned final week. “Syria with a brand new structure, new authorities that serves all Syrians.”