The United States said it has made contact with Syria’s victorious Hayat Tahrir al-Sham rebels.
Secretary of state Antony Blinken’s comment on “direct contact” with the HTS rebels came despite the US having designated the group as terrorists in 2018.
Blinken is the first US official to publicly confirm contacts between the Biden administration and HTS, which led a coalition of armed opposition groups that .
Speaking at a news conference in Aqaba, Jordan, Blinken would not discuss details of the contacts but said it was important for the US to convey messages to the group about its conduct and how it intends to govern in a transition period.
“Yes, we have been in contact with HTS and with other parties,” Blinken said.
HTS, which was once an affiliate of al-Qaeda, is designated a “terrorist” organisation by many Western governments, along with the US State Department.
The department’s designation carries with it severe sanctions, including a ban on the provision of any “material support” to the group or its members.
The sanctions do not, however, legally bar US officials from communicating with designated groups.
In an interview Saturday on Syrian television, the group’s leader, did not address any direct contact with the United States, but said the new authorities in Damascus, the capital, are in touch with Western embassies.
What has HTS been doing since it overthrew Assad?
HTS has worked to establish security and start a political transition after seizing Damascus and has tried to reassure a public both stunned by and concerned about extremist jihadis among the rebels. Insurgent leaders say the group has broken with its extremist past.
Al-Sharaa appeared in a video message Friday congratulating “the great Syrian people for the victory of the blessed revolution”.
Pubs and liquor stores in Damascus initially closed following the rebel victory but are now tentatively reopening.
“‘You have the right to work and live your life as you did before’,” Safi, the landlord of Papa bar in the Old City, said the rebels had told him.
“We appreciate some of the positive words we heard in recent days, but what matters is action — and sustained action,” Blinken said.
If a transition moves forward, “we in turn will look at various sanctions and other measures that we have taken”, he added.
But in Abu Dhabi, Anwar Gargash, a presidential adviser in the United Arab Emirates, said “we need to be on guard” despite HTS’s talk of unity.
Thousands of Syrians have swarmed the country’s over the past week, seeking evidence that might lead them to loved ones who disappeared under Assad’s repressive rule.
