Damascus тАУ
Washington is scrapping a long-standing reward for the arrest of Syria’s new leader, a senior U.S. diplomat said Friday, following “positive messages” from a first meeting that included a promise to fight terrorism.
Barbara Leaf, Washington’s top diplomat for the Middle East, made the comments after her meeting with Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus тАФ the first formal mission to Syria’s capital by United States diplomats since the early days of Syria’s civil war.
The lightning offensive that toppled president Bashar Assad on Dec. 8 was led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is rooted in al-Qaida’s Syria branch but has sought to moderate its image in recent years.
