Saturday, December 28

Blinken: US in direct contact with Syrian rebels that ousted Assad

 

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivers a statement to the press in Aqaba, Jordan, Dec. 14, 2024. He said that the United States has been in direct contact with the Syrian rebel group that overthrew Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

AQABA, JORDAN —

American officials have been in direct contact with the terrorist-designated rebel group that led the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar Assad, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Saturday.

Blinken, speaking at a news conference in Jordan, was the first U.S. official to publicly confirm contacts between the Biden administration and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, which led a coalition of armed opposition groups that drove Assad from power and into asylum in Russia last weekend.

Along with counterparts from eight Arab nations and Turkey and senior officials from the European Union and United Nations, Blinken signed off on a set of principles meant to guide Syria\’s transition to a peaceful, nonsectarian and inclusive country.

Blinken would not discuss details of the contacts but said it was important for the U.S. to convey messages to the group about its conduct and how it intends to govern in a transition period.

"Yes, we have been in contact with HTS and with other parties," Blinken said in the port city of Aqaba. He added that "our message to the Syrian people is this: We want them to succeed and we\’re prepared to help them do so."

Blinken also stressed that "the success that we\’ve had in ending the territorial caliphate" of the Islamic State group remains "a critical mission." And citing the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, the Kurdish fighters who in recent years drove IS out of large areas of Syria, he said it was "very important at this moment that they continue that role because this is a moment of instability" in which IS "will seek to regroup and take advantage of."

HTS, which was once an affiliate of al-Qaida, has been designed as a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department since 2018. That designation carries with it severe sanctions, including a ban on the provision of any "material support" to the group or its members. The sanctions do not, however, legally bar U.S. officials from communicating with designated groups.








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