By Humeyra Pamuk and Amina Ismail
WASHINGTON/DAMASCUS (Reuters) – Visiting U.S. diplomats to Damascus have been to carry Washington’s first formal in-person conferences on Friday with Syria’s new de facto rulers led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, hoping to evaluate the tasks of the previous Al-Qaeda affiliate. the nation.
America, different Western powers and plenty of Syrians have been completely satisfied to see HTS-led militias overthrow President Bashar al-Assad, however it’s unclear whether or not the group will impose strict Islamic rule or exhibit flexibility and can evolve in direction of democracy.
Biden administration officers will focus on with HTS representatives a set of rules comparable to inclusiveness and respect for minority rights that Washington desires to incorporate in Syria’s political transition, a division spokesperson stated of state.
The State Division’s high diplomat within the Center East, Barbara Leaf, Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens, and Senior Advisor Daniel Rubinstein, chargeable for main the State Division’s engagement in Syria, are the primary American diplomats to go to Damascus because the fall of the Assad regime.
A information convention had been deliberate with U.S. officers, however an announcement issued on behalf of Leaf stated it was canceled for safety causes, with out offering particulars.
Western governments are progressively opening channels to HTS and its chief Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former commander of an al-Qaeda department in Syria, and are starting to debate whether or not to take away the group’s terrorist designation. The American delegation’s journey follows contacts with France and Nice Britain in latest days.
The delegation may even search data on American journalist Austin Tice, captured throughout a reporting journey to Syria in 2012, and different Americans who went lacking underneath Assad.
The delegation will meet with members of assorted communities and civil society in addition to representatives of HTS to debate “transition rules” endorsed by the USA and regional companions, the State Division spokesperson stated.
America severed diplomatic ties with Syria and closed its embassy in Damascus, the capital, in 2012.
SYRIANS GATHER
A number of hundred Syrians gathered in Damascus’ central Umayyad Sq. on Thursday to name for a democratic, secular state guaranteeing equal rights for girls. It was the primary such protest since Assad’s ouster.
Syrians broadly worry that the brand new administration is transferring towards intransigent spiritual rule, marginalizing minority communities and excluding ladies from public life.
Obaida Arnout, a spokesperson for Syria’s transitional authorities, stated this week that the “organic and physiological nature” of girls made them unsuitable for sure authorities positions.
The UN human rights workplace will ship a small staff of human rights specialists to Syria subsequent week for the primary time in years after the overthrow of Assad, the spokesperson stated. the UN, Thameen Al-Kheetan, throughout a press briefing in Geneva.
As a part of the takeover, rebels opened prisons and authorities places of work, elevating new hopes for accountability for crimes dedicated throughout Syria’s civil warfare.
Syrian rebels took management of Damascus on Dec. 8, forcing Assad to flee after greater than 13 years of civil warfare and ending his household’s decades-long rule.
The insurgent assault ended a warfare that killed tons of of 1000’s of individuals, induced one of many largest refugee crises in trendy instances and left cities destroyed by bombing, countryside depopulated and an economic system gutted. by international sanctions.
The lightning offensive raised questions on whether or not the rebels would have the ability to guarantee an orderly transition.
Forces underneath the command of al-Sharaa – higher often called Abu Mohammed al-Golani – changed the Assad household regime with an interim authorities that had dominated a insurgent enclave in Idlib province for 3 months , in northwest Syria.
Washington designated al-Sharaa as a terrorist in 2013, saying al-Qaeda in Iraq had tasked it with overthrowing the Assad regime and establishing Islamic sharia legislation in Syria. The Nusra Entrance, HTS’s predecessor, carried out suicide assaults that killed civilians and adopted a violent sectarian outlook.
Golani stated the terrorist designation was unfair and that he opposed the killing of harmless individuals.
Washington stays involved that ISIS might seize the chance to resurrect itself and in addition desires to keep away from any clashes within the nation’s northeast between Turkish-backed insurgent factions and U.S.-allied Kurdish militias.
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