DAMASCUS: The United States said on Saturday it had reached out to Syria’s victorious Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rebels, as Western and Arab states joined Turkey in expressing support for a unified, peaceful Syria. .
Secretary of State Antony Blanken’s comments on “direct contact” with HTS rebels came after the US designated the group as a terrorist organization in 2018.
As Blanken and other diplomats held talks on Syria in Aqaba, Jordan, Turkey reopened its embassy in Damascus, nearly a week after rebels toppled President Bashar al-Assad — and the start of Syria’s civil war. 12 years after Ankara’s diplomatic mission was closed.
“We have been in contact with HTS and other parties,” Blinken told reporters, without specifying how the contact was made.
Ankara has been a key player in the Syrian conflict, gaining considerable influence in the northwest, financing armed groups there, and maintaining a working relationship with HTS, which carried out attacks that toppled Assad. led by
In a joint statement after the meeting in Jordan, diplomats from the United States, Turkey, the European Union and Arab countries “reaffirmed their full support for the Syrian people at this critical juncture in history to build a more hopeful, secure and peaceful future.” can go.” ”
They called for a transition in Syrian leadership “to establish an inclusive, non-sectarian and representative government through a transparent process” with respect for human rights.
“Syria finally has a chance to end decades of isolation,” the group said.
The head of the US-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in the country’s northeast called on XFar Kurds on Saturday to “take a position favorable to the Syrian talks”.
Geir Pedersen, the UN special envoy for Syria, urged participants in the Jordan talks to provide humanitarian aid and ensure that “state institutions do not collapse”.
A delegation from the Gulf emirates will travel to Syria on Sunday to meet with transitional government officials over aid and the reopening of its embassy, a Qatari diplomat said on Friday.
Unlike other Arab states, Qatar never restored diplomatic ties with Assad after they broke in 2011.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallis said in Jordan that Syria’s biggest aid-giving bloc is interested in rebuilding and rebuilding Syria.
Five former officials told AFP that Assad fled Syria late last week, hours before rebel forces seized Damascus.
His flight left Syrians gleefully disbelieving at the abrupt end of an era in which suspected dissidents were jailed or killed.
It waged more than a decade of war in which more than 500,000 people were killed and millions displaced.
‘Such a tragedy’
HTS has tried to moderate its rhetoric. The transitional government insists that the rights of all Syrians will be protected, as will the rule of law.
“We appreciate some of the positive words we’ve heard in recent days, but what’s important is action — and sustained action,” Blanken said.
He added that if a transition goes ahead, “we will look at the various sanctions and other measures that we have taken in return”.
Pubs and liquor stores in Damascus were initially closed after the rebel victory, but are now temporarily reopening.
“‘You have the right to work and live your life as you used to,'” said Safi, owner of Papa Bar in the old city, the rebels told him.
But in Abu Dhabi, Anwar Gargash, a presidential adviser in the United Arab Emirates, said despite talk of HTS unity “we need to be vigilant”.
Thousands of Syrians have flocked to the country’s notorious detention centers over the past week, searching for evidence that could lead them to loved ones who disappeared under Assad’s oppressive rule.
Some ex-prisoners, like Mohammad Darwish, are also returning as free men to the places they were once imprisoned, trying to find closure.
“When the door closed behind us, we sank into the depths of despair. This cell was witness to so many tragedies,” he said in his former windowless cell in a Damascus prison.
Syrians also face a struggle to make ends meet in a country ravaged by war, inflation and years of sanctions.
The situation in the country continues to deteriorate.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least four rebels were killed in an ambush on Saturday when “elements loyal to the former regime” near the villa of an Assad relative on the Mediterranean coast. “Ambushed.
‘Bungi politics’
Assad was supported by Russia – where a former aide told AFP he had fled – as well as Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
The rebels launched their offensive on November 27, the same day a ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war in Lebanon took effect, with Assad’s ally suffering heavy losses.
Naim Qassem, the leader of Iran-backed Hezbollah, admitted on Saturday that after the fall of Bashar al-Assad, his group will no longer be able to receive military supplies through Syria.
He also said he hoped Syria’s new rulers would view Israel as an “enemy” and not normalize relations with the country.
Both Israel and Turkey have launched military strikes inside Syria since the fall of Assad’s regime.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported more than 60 Israeli strikes throughout Syria on Saturday.
According to Gargash, the UAE adviser, such attacks are “bouncy politics”, although “structurally degrading Syria’s capabilities can be seen as a sensible thing from an Israeli practical point of view”.
HTS leader Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, who now uses his real name Ahmed al-Sharaa, said the Israeli move “risks a new unjustified tension in the region”.
But “general exhaustion after years of war and conflict in Syria does not allow us to enter into new conflicts,” he said in an online statement.