U.S. officials will be in Damascus Friday to hold talks with the country’s new leaders, the first group of American diplomats to formally visit Syria in more than a decade since Washington shuttered its embassy in Damascus in 2012.
Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf, former special envoy for Syria Daniel Rubinstein and the Biden administration’s chief envoy for hostage negotiations, Roger Carstens, made the trip for talks with Syria’s interim leaders, the State Department said early Friday.
“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 said.
The group will stress the principles of inclusion, protection of minorities and a rejection of terrorism and chemical weapons that the Biden administration says will be critical for any U.S. support for a new government set up in the wake of President Bashar al-Assad’s ouster earlier this month. Assad fled and was granted asylum by his patron Russia, ending his family’s decades-long rule of Syria.
The U.S. delegation’s travel follows contacts with France and Britain in recent days.
Golani once sought by the U.S.
U.S. President Joe Biden and his top aides described the overthrow of Assad as a historic opportunity for the Syrian people who have for decades lived under his oppressive rule, but they also warned the country faced a period of risk and uncertainty.
The rebel group that spearheaded the assault on Damascus that forced Assad to flee — Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS — is designated a foreign terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and others. The designation occurred after Nusra Front, the predecessor of HTS, carried out suicide attacks that killed civilians and espoused a violent sectarian vision.
Rebel leader Abu Mohammed Al-Golani is set to play a major role in Syria’s future. The National’s Ellen Mauro breaks down how he rose in the rebel ranks and how his leadership could impact the country.
While that designation comes with a raft of sanctions, it does not prohibit U.S. officials from speaking to its members or leaders.
HTS replaced the Assad family rule with a three-month transitional government that had been ruling a rebel enclave in Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib.
The State Department said Rubinstein, Leaf and Carstens would meet with HTS officials but did not say if the group’s leader Ahmad al-Sharaa — better known as Abu Mohammed Al-Golani — would be among those they see.
The FBI seven years ago offered a reward of up to $10 million US for information on the wheareabouts of Golani, now 42.
Back in 2003, he joined insurgents battling U.S. troops in Iraq. The Syrian native was detained by the U.S. military for a time but was released and eventually found his way back to Syria, establishing Nusra Front before eventually breaking away from previous al-Qaeda and ISIS affiliations.
Raw emotions flooded out as Syrians in Canada gathered in the days after the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s oppressive regime to make sense of what happened and share their hopes for the future.
Golani has done interviews with Western media outlets in recent weeks; U.S. officials say Golani’s public statements about protecting minority and women’s rights are welcomed, but they remain skeptical that he will follow through on them in the long run.
The diplomats’ visit to Damascus will not result in the immediate reopening of the U.S. embassy, which is under the protection of the Czech government, according to U.S. officials, who said decisions on diplomatic recognition will be made when the new Syrian authorities make their intentions clear.
Troop size more than double what was previously known
While the U.S. suspended operations at its embassy in Damascus during the country’s civil war, there are U.S. troops in small parts of Syria engaged in the fight against the Islamic State militant group.
But the Pentagon revealed Thursday that the U.S. had doubled the number of its forces in Syria to fight ISIS before Assad’s fall to 2,000 troops.
“These additional forces are considered temporary rotational forces that deploy to meet shifting mission requirements, whereas the core 900 deployers are on longer term deployments.”
The U.S. also has significantly stepped up airstrikes against ISIS targets over concern that a power vacuum would allow the militant group to reconstitute itself.
Washington remains concerned that extremist group ISIS could seize the moment to resurrect and also wants to avoid any clashes in the country’s northeast between Turkey-backed rebel factions and U.S.-allied Kurdish militia.
A priority for the American officials will be to seek information on the whereabouts of missing U.S. journalist Austin Tice, and other American citizens who went missing during the Assad regime.
Tice disappeared at a checkpoint in a contested area west of Damascus as the Syrian civil war intensified. A video released weeks after Tice went missing showed him blindfolded and held by armed men and saying, “Oh, Jesus.”
He has not been heard from since. Assad’s government publicly denied that it was holding him.
