British Foreign Secretary David Lemmy has said the British government has made “diplomatic contact” with the Syrian rebel group that overthrew the Assad regime.
Lammy said Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) remained a proscribed terrorist organisation, but Britain “can have diplomatic contact and so we have diplomatic contact, as you would expect”.
their American counterparts Antony Blanken said on Saturday that the US had made “direct contact”. with HTS rebels now under Syrian control.
Lammy’s comments come as the government announced a £50 million humanitarian aid package for vulnerable Syrians, including refugees in the region.
Speaking on Sunday, Lemmy said: “We want to see a representative government, an inclusive government. We want to see the stockpile of chemical weapons protected, and not used, and we want to make sure that Don’t let the violence continue.
“For all these reasons, using all the channels available to us, and those are diplomatic and certainly intelligence-led channels, we try to deal with HTS where we have to.”
Diplomatic contact with HTS does not mean that the Secretary of State is in personal contact with the rebel group.
Both the UK and the US have a vested interest in what happens next in Syria. Blanken told reporters on Saturday that U.S. discussions with HTS focused specifically on the fate of missing American journalist Austin Tice.
Britain closed its embassy in Damascus in 2013, two years after the Assad regime brutally suppressed Arab Spring protests there.
Asked whether HTS could be removed from the UK’s list of banned terrorist groups, the foreign secretary said the rebel group was still an outlawed organization that had sprung from al-Qaeda.
“Al Qaeda is responsible for the massive loss of life on British soil,” Lemmy said, adding: “We will judge them. [HTS] On their actions, I will not comment on future punishment but of course we recognize that this is an important moment for Syria.
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: No decision has been taken yet on the proscription status of HTS..
On the pledge to give cash to the Middle Eastern country, Lemmy said he did so after talks in Aqaba on Saturday.
Hosted by Jordan, delegates from several countries agreed on the importance of “non-sectarian and representative government”, the protection of human rights, unfettered access for humanitarian aid, the safe destruction of chemical weapons and combating terrorism.
United States, France, Germany, Arab Contact Group, Bahrain, Qatar, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, European Union and United Nations participated in the talks.
HTS was not present at the meeting in Jordan.
Britain said £30m would go towards food, shelter and emergency healthcare inside Syria, while £10m would go to the World Food Program (WFP) in Lebanon and £10m to WFP and the UN refugee agency, UNHCR. will be given to Jordan.
As well as £50 million in aid for Syrians in the region, the UK government said £120,000 of UK funding would go towards helping the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to rid Syria of chemical weapons. Can be cleaned. Syrian Transitional Government
Separately, the Home Office suspended its decisions on Syrian asylum claims in the UK after the fall of the Assad regime.
Last week, the HTS rebel group, along with allied rebel factions, overthrew Assad’s government.
The Assad family ruled Syria for more than 50 years. In 2011, Bashar al-Assad crushed a peaceful, pro-democracy uprising, sparking a civil war that killed more than half a million people and forced 12 million others from their homes.
More reports are coming out about the persecution of Bashar al-Assad’s regime. His suffering has damaged the lives of many Syrians.
However, religious minorities in Syria and neighboring countries are concerned about their future under HTS rule, given the Islamic militant group’s previous ties to al-Qaeda.