US diplomats have arrived in Syria for their first visit since the overthrow of Assad
US officials will be in Damascus on Friday for talks with the country’s new leaders. It is the first group of American diplomats to make an official visit to Syria in more than a decade since Washington closed its embassy in Damascus in 2012.
The State Department visited the US Assistant Secretary of State for Middle East Affairs Barbara Leaf, former Special Envoy for Syria Daniel Rubinstein and Roger Carstens, the Biden administration’s chief hostage negotiator, for talks with Syria’s interim leaders on Friday morning.
“They will engage directly with the Syrian people, including members of civil society, activists, members of diverse communities and other Syrian voices, about their vision for their country’s future and how the United States can help support them,” the Department said.
The group will emphasize the inclusion of terrorism and chemical weapons, the protection of minorities and the rejection of principles that the Biden administration says will be critical to any US support for the new government installed after the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad. month Assad fled and was granted asylum by his patron Russia, ending his family’s decades-long rule of Syria.
The visit of the US delegation follows recent contacts with France and England.
Golani was once wanted by the United States
US President Joe Biden and his top aides have characterized Assad’s ouster as a historic opportunity for the Syrian people, who have lived under his oppressive rule for decades, while warning that the country faces a period of risk and uncertainty.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, the rebel group that led the attack on Damascus that forced Assad to flee, has been designated a foreign terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and others. The appointment came after HTS’s predecessor, the Nusra Front, carried out suicide attacks that killed civilians and espoused a violent sectarian outlook.
Rebel leader Abu Muhammad al-Golani is poised to play a major role in Syria’s future. The National’s Ellen Mauro explains how the rebels rose through the ranks and how their leadership could affect the country.
Although the designation comes with a number of sanctions, it does not prohibit US officials from speaking with its members or leaders.
The HTS replaced the Assad family’s rule with a three-month-old transitional government that runs a rebel enclave in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province.
The State Department said Rubinstein, Leaf and Carstens would meet with HTS officials, but did not say whether the group’s leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa – better known as Abu Muhammad al-Golani – would be among those they saw.
Seven years ago, the FBI offered a reward of up to $10 million for information on Golani, now 42.
Back in 2003, he joined insurgents fighting US troops in Iraq. The Syrian was detained by the US military for a time, but was released and eventually returned to Syria, founding the Nusra Front before breaking away from previous al-Qaeda and ISIS affiliates.
Raw emotions ran high as Syrians in Canada came together to make sense of what happened and share their hopes for the future in the days since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s oppressive regime.
Golani has given interviews to Western media in recent weeks; US officials say Golani’s statements on minority and women’s rights are welcome, but they are skeptical that he will follow through on them in the long term.
According to US officials, the diplomats’ visit to Damascus will not result in the immediate reopening of the US embassy, ​​which is under the auspices of the Czech government. clearly
The number of troops is twice what was previously known
Although the US has suspended operations at its embassy in Damascus during the country’s civil war, there are US troops fighting the Islamic State militant group in small parts of Syria.
But the Pentagon announced on Thursday that the US had doubled its forces in Syria to 2,000 troops to fight ISIS ahead of Assad’s ouster.
“These additional forces are considered temporary rotational forces deployed to meet changing mission requirements, while the core 900 deployers are on longer-term deployments.”
The US has also significantly increased airstrikes against ISIS targets, worried that the power vacuum would allow the militant group to reestablish itself.
Washington is concerned that the Daesh extremist group could use the opportunity to resurgence and also wants to avoid any clashes in the country’s northeast between Turkish-backed rebel groups and US-allied Kurdish militias.
A priority for American officials will be to search for information on the whereabouts of missing American journalist Austin Tice and other American citizens who went missing during the Assad regime.
Tice disappeared at a checkpoint in the disputed region west of Damascus as Syria’s civil war escalated. A video released weeks after Tice’s disappearance shows him blindfolded and held by armed men saying, “Oh, Jesus.”
He has not been heard from since. Assad’s government has publicly denied holding him.
English