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WASHINGTON/DAMASCUS: US diplomats visiting Damascus held Washington’s first in-person official meetings with Syria’s new de facto rulers led by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham on Friday and discussed with the former Al-Qaeda affiliate the future of Syria’s political transition.
The United States, other Western powers and many Syrians were glad to see militias led by HTS topple President Bashar Assad, but it is not clear whether the group will impose strict Islamic rule or show flexibility and move toward democracy.
Western governments are gradually opening channels to HTS and its leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa, a former commander of an Al-Qaeda franchise in Syria, and starting to debate whether to remove the group’s terrorist designation. The US delegation’s trip follows contacts with France and Britain in recent days.
The State Department’s top Middle East diplomat Barbara Leaf, Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens and Senior Adviser Daniel Rubinstein, who now is tasked with leading the Department’s Syria engagement, are the first US diplomats to travel to Damascus since Assad’s rule collapsed.
“They met with representatives of HTS to discuss transition principles endorsed by the United States,” a State Department spokesperson said. “They also discussed regional events and the imperative of the fight against Daesh,” the spokesperson added.
The delegation engaged with civil society groups and members of different communities in Syria “about their vision for the future of their country and how the United States can help support them,” the spokesperson said.
Days after Assad’s ouster, the United States has outlined a set of principles, such as inclusivity and respect for the rights of minorities, that Washington wants included in Syria’s political transition.
The delegation also worked to uncover new information about US journalist Austin Tice, who was taken captive during a reporting trip to Syria in 2012, and other American citizens who went missing under Assad.
A press conference had been scheduled with the US officials but a statement issued on behalf of Leaf said it was canceled for security concerns, without providing details.
The US cut diplomatic ties with Syria and shut its embassy in Damascus in 2012.
Syrian rebels seized control of Damascus on Dec. 8, forcing Assad to flee after more than 13 years of civil war and ending his family’s decades-long rule.
The rebel sweep ended a war that killed hundreds of thousands, caused one of the biggest refugee crises of modern times and left cities bombed to rubble, countryside depopulated and the economy hollowed out by global sanctions.
The lightning offensive raised questions over whether the rebels will be able to ensure an orderly transition.
Forces under the command of Al-Sharaa — better known as Abu Mohammed Al-Golani — installed a three-month caretaker government that had been ruling a rebel enclave in Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib.
Washington designated Al-Sharaa a terrorist in 2013, saying Al-Qaeda in Iraq had tasked him with overthrowing Assad’s rule and establishing sharia in Syria. It said the Nusra Front, the predecessor of HTS, carried out suicide attacks that killed civilians and espoused a violent sectarian vision.
Golani said the terrorist designation was unfair and that he opposed the killing of innocent people.
Washington remains concerned that Islamic State could seize the moment to resurrect and also wants to avoid any clashes in the country’s northeast between Turkiye-backed rebel factions and US-allied Kurdish militia.
On Friday, thousands of Syrians held a celebration at Ummayad Square in central Damascus, in an event called for by HTS. Speakers blared revolutionary songs, while people waved the newly adopted Syrian flag and chanted slogans in support of the transnational government and against Assad.
The crowd was a mix of people from different walks of life and backgrounds: armed men in military fatigues, women – both with and without headscarves – and children.
Maram, 62, said that her four children had fled Syria 11 years ago and settled in Germany and Hungary after two of her sons were detained and tortured. She has not seen them since, but they plan to return to their country to help rebuild it, she said.
“The country has been completely destroyed in every aspect,” she said, adding she hoped HTS could improve things, but was watchful. “We were not accustomed to freedom or governing our own country, so we will continue to monitor until we reach our goal.”
There is widespread apprehension among Syrians that the new administration will gravitate toward hard-line religious rule, marginalizing minority communities and excluding women from public life.
Obaida Arnout, a spokesperson for the Syrian transitional government, said this week that women’s “biological and physiological nature” rendered them unfit for certain governmental jobs.