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The US has been in direct contact with the Islamist motion that spearheaded the offensive to topple Bashar al-Assad regardless of its designation as a terrorist organisation, as western and regional powers push for a peaceable transition in Syria.
On Saturday US secretary of state Antony Blinken grew to become the primary American official to acknowledge that Washington had been in touch with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which has taken management of Damascus.
After assembly regional counterparts in Jordan, he stated the US and its allies had agreed on a “set of shared ideas” to information their help for Syria, together with a Syrian-led political transition that’s “inclusive and consultant” and respects all minorities.
Blinken stated that the ideas had been “communicated” to the nation’s new leaders.
“As we see Syria transfer in that course and, in a Syrian-led and Syrian-owned course of, take these steps, we in flip will have a look at varied sanctions and different measures that we’ve taken and reply in form,” he stated.
The US, UN and EU all designate HTS, a former affiliate of al-Qaeda, as a terrorist organisation.
The group’s chief Abu Mohammed Jolani was designated a terrorist a decade in the past and has a $10mn US bounty on his head. Jolani renounced his hyperlinks to al-Qaeda in 2016 and has sought to rebrand himself as a extra reasonable Islamist chief.
The US and different western powers even have sanctions on the Syrian state, which has been shattered by greater than 13 years of civil struggle and many years of the Assads’ corrupt, repressive rule.
Western international locations and others within the area have been scrambling to reply to the quickly unfolding occasions in Syria after HTS led a lightning offensive that introduced the Assad household’s five-decade dynastic rule within the war-torn Arab state to an finish in lower than two weeks.
After advancing into Damascus final weekend with different insurgent factions, HTS named a caretaker prime minister who will lead an interim authorities till March. It has repeatedly pledged to guard minorities.
The autumn of Assad, who fled to Russia, has triggered scenes of jubilation throughout Syria, but additionally uncertainty about what comes subsequent.
Blinken stated that the US appreciates “among the optimistic phrases that we’ve heard in latest days, however what actually counts is motion and sustained motion”.
“This will’t be the choice or the occasion of at some point. It has to essentially be sustained over time,” Blinken stated.
The challenges dealing with Syria are enormous because the nation has been devastated by years of struggle and dictatorial rule. The economic system is in a state of collapse and the civil battle pressured thousands and thousands from their houses and left many extra in determined want of humanitarian help.
Additionally it is a nation with a various mixture of religions and sects, and a number of armed factions.
Blinken stated there was a scarcity of gas and wheat, including that the US and its companions would concentrate on the “near-term want”.
Below Assad Syria relied on Iran, which backed the regime within the civil struggle, for the overwhelming majority of its oil imports. However Tehran pulled 1000’s of Iranians in another country because the rebels superior on Damascus.
It imported wheat from Russia, which additionally backed Assad throughout the battle that erupted after the regime brutally crushed a 2011 in style rebellion.
The US has about 900 troops in Syria, the place they’ve been supporting the struggle in opposition to Isis and backing Kurdish-led militants within the battle in opposition to the jihadist group.
Turkey considers the Kurdish fighters to be an extension of the Kurdistan Staff’ occasion (PKK), which has been preventing the Turkish state for 4 many years.
Ankara backs Syrian insurgent teams that co-ordinated with HTS within the offensive in opposition to Assad however have additionally fought with the Kurdish militants.
Blinken stated the transition in Syria was a “second of vulnerability during which Isis will search to regroup”.