Washington’s envoy stated it could be “incoherent” to barter with somebody on a US needed terrorist listing
The US will now not supply a $10 million reward for data resulting in the seize of Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa, higher identified by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammad al-Julani, following Washington delegation’s assembly with the management of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in Damascus on Friday.
Earlier this month, Syrian opposition forces led by HTS jihadists launched a shock offensive throughout the nation, capturing a number of main cities, together with the capital, Damascus. In response, Syrian President Bashar Assad resigned and was granted asylum in Russia.
As a part of a broader diplomatic “engagement” with the brand new Syrian management, Barbara Leaf, the US Assistant Secretary of State for Close to Japanese Affairs, led the delegation to Syria on Friday, marking the primary go to by American diplomats since 2012, when the US embassy in Damascus was closed.
Throughout her assembly with al-Sharaa, Leaf mentioned a number of key points, together with the necessity to forestall terrorist teams from working inside Syria and to make sure the safety of minority and ladies’s rights.
“We additionally mentioned the vital want to make sure that terrorist teams can not pose a menace inside Syria or externally, together with to the US and our companions within the area,” Leaf stated throughout a phone briefing from Jordan. “Primarily based on our dialogue, I knowledgeable him that we’d not be pursuing the Rewards for Justice supply that has been in impact for some years.”
Regardless of this transfer, HTS stays designated as a international terrorist group by the US, and sanctions stemming from this designation are nonetheless in place. Leaf emphasised that the choice to withdraw the bounty was a coverage shift geared toward legitimizing engagement with the group.
“If I’m sitting with the HTS chief and having a prolonged, detailed dialogue, it’s slightly incoherent to have a bounty on his head,” she famous. “In any other case, I ought to ask the FBI to return in and arrest him or one thing.”
The US delegation additionally included Roger Carstens, the Particular Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, and Daniel Rubinstein, a senior adviser dealing with relations with the brand new Syrian forces. They mentioned the destiny of lacking American journalist Austin Tice, who disappeared in Syria in 2012, amongst different points.
This week, the US army revealed it had doubled its forces in Syria to roughly 2,000 troops earlier than Assad’s fall, aiming to forestall Islamic State (IS) terrorists from exploiting the upheaval. The Pentagon carried out airstrikes in northeastern Syria on Thursday, allegedly killing one of many terrorist group’s leaders.
Whereas the fast reopening of the US embassy in Damascus shouldn’t be deliberate, Leaf indicated that future diplomatic recognition would rely upon the actions of the brand new Syrian authorities.
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