DAMASCUS: Top US diplomats were expected to hold Washington's first in-person official meetings with Syria's new de facto rulers led by Hayat Tahrir al Sham in Damascus on Friday, hoping to gauge what plans the group has for the country. The United States, other Western powers and many Syrians were glad to see militias led by HTS topple president Bashar al Assad.
The US officials from the Biden administration will discuss with HTS representatives a set of principles such as inclusivity and respect for the rights of minorities that Washington wants included in Syria's political transition, a State Department spokesperson said. The State Department's top Middle East diplomat Barbara Leaf, Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens and Senior Adviser Daniel Rubinstein, who is tasked with leading the Department's Syria engagement, are the first US diplomats to travel to Damascus since Assad's rule collapsed. Western governments are gradually opening channels to HTS and its leader Ahmed al Sharaa. The US delegation's trip follows contacts with France and Britain in recent days.
The delegation will also seek information about US journalist Austin Tice, who was taken captive during a reporting trip to Syria in August 2012, and other American citizens who went missing under Assad. "They will be engaging directly with the Syrian people, including members of civil society, activists, members of different communities, and other Syrian voices about their vision for the future of their country and how the United States can help support them," the State Department spokesperson said. "They also plan to meet with representatives of HTS to discuss transition principles endorsed by the United States and regional partners in Aqaba, Jordan." The US cut diplomatic ties with Syria and shut its embassy in the capital Damascus in 2012.
Several hundred Syrians gathered in Damascus' central Ummayad Square to call for a democratic, secular state that ensures equal rights for women. It was the first such demonstration since Assad's ouster. The UN human rights office will send a small team of human rights officers to Syria next week for the first time in years following the overthrow of Assad, UN spokesperson Thameen Al Kheetan told a press briefing in Geneva.
As part of the takeover, fighters have flung open prisons and government offices, raising fresh hopes for accountability for crimes committed during Syria's civil war. Syrian groups seized control of Damascus on December 8, forcing Assad to flee after more than 13 years of civil war and ending his family's decades-long rule. The 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 groups will be able to ensure an orderly transition. Forces under the command of al Sharaa - better known as Abu Mohammed al Golani - replaced the Assad family rule with a three-month caretaker government that had been ruling an enclave in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib. — Reuters
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