ReutersThe US has established “direct contact” with the HTS rebels who now management Syria after the autumn the Assad regimeSecretary of State Antony Blinken stated.
This is the primary acknowledgment of direct American contact with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which the United States at present nonetheless designates as a terrorist group.
Blinken spoke in Jordan after talks with representatives of a number of Arab nations, Türkiye and Europe to debate Syria’s future.
Officials agreed to assist a peaceable transition course of within the nation, with Jordan’s overseas minister saying regional powers didn’t need to see it “plunge into chaos”.
A joint assertion requires an inclusive Syrian authorities that respects the rights of minorities and doesn’t present a base for “terrorist teams”.
The debate each inside and out of doors Syria following the tumultuous occasions of current weeks has been very important to the creation of a brand new governance that represents all Syrians.
At the assembly in Jordan, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein expressed concern about Syria’s shared future throughout the Middle East and past.
He stated regional gamers don’t need to see one other Libya, referring to the chaos that adopted after Colonel Gaddafi was faraway from energy.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan stated that current Syrian establishments should be preserved and reformed.
“Never permit terrorism to make the most of the transition interval. And we should coordinate our efforts and be taught from the errors of the previous,” Fidan stated in keeping with the Reuters information company.
The strongest insurgent group, HTS, has indicated that it’s searching for an inclusive authorities. But the group’s violent jihadist previous has left some doubting whether or not it is going to be capable of ship on these guarantees.
Blinken stated Washington has been in direct contact with HTS, significantly concerning the destiny of long-missing American journalist Austin Tice.
“We are in touch with HTS and different events,” Blinken advised reporters in Jordan.
There was no consultant from Syria from the talks in Jordan. Foreign ministers from eight Arab nations who attended the assembly stated they wished to make sure Syria was unified and never divided alongside sectarian strains.
Also absent had been the 2 nations that offered Assad with the monetary assist that allowed him to outlive in energy for thus lengthy: Iran and Russia.
The shadow of all of the exterior forces which have fought over Syria for thus lengthy looms heavy over the nation’s future.
Syria’s rising political entities will want cohesion not solely inside the nation but additionally overseas if there’s to be any actual hope for the Syrian individuals to construct on the heady style of freedom they skilled final week .
ReutersSyrian rebels ended Bashar al-Assad’s 24-year rule, with opposition forces seizing the capital and forcing the president to flee to Russia on December 8.
The overthrow adopted a 13-year civil struggle that started after Assad cracked down on pro-democracy protests. The preventing has killed greater than half one million individuals, displaced thousands and thousands extra and implicated worldwide powers and their proxies.
HTS insurgent chief Ahmed al-Sharaa, who beforehand used the identify Abu Mohammed al-Jolaniappointed Mohammed al-Bashir The interim prime minister of Syriaand the world is now watching how Syria’s political panorama will develop after the Assad household’s half-century of rule ends.
HTS was based underneath a unique identify, Jabhat al-Nusrain 2011 as a direct al-Qaeda affiliate. It was thought of one of the efficient and lethal teams opposing President Assad.
It has been proscribed as a terrorist group by the United Nations, the United States, Turkey and different nations – and at present stays so.
But al-Sharaa has publicly damaged ranks with al-Qaeda, and HTS’s current message has been one in all inclusiveness and a rejection of violence and revenge.
