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Joe Biden is sending top diplomats to Damascus to meet Abu Muhammad al-Julani, the leader of the Islamist rebels who ousted Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad but has been designated a terrorist group by the United States.
Barbara Leaf, a senior Middle East official at the State Department, will lead the delegation in the coming days, according to people familiar with the matter.
This meeting will be the first official personal contact between the United States and the leaders of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, which led the attack launched by ISIS. He overthrew Assad Two weeks ago after a sneak attack against the regime.
This scheduled visit to the United States comes at a time when Al-Julani, who now uses his birth name Ahmed Al-Sharaa, is urging Western countries to lift sanctions on Syria, and Washington is trying to prevent this. Terrorist groups including ISIS Taking advantage of the power vacuum left by the fall of Assad.
US officials say they would consider lifting Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham's terrorist designation, which has been in place since 2018, and imposing sanctions on the Syrian state if the group demonstrates its commitment to “inclusive” governance and maintaining stability.
“If you don't want this isolation, there are certain things you have to do to move the country forward and make sure that you move it forward in a comprehensive way. . . . We must deal with… “Some security challenges, whether it's chemical weapons, or groups like ISIS.”
The US visit follows visits by officials from France, Germany, and the United Kingdom to Damascus earlier this week.
Blinken told Bloomberg on Thursday that he was considering sending a delegation to Syria in the coming days. “It is important to have direct communication.” He saidWithout revealing who he will send it to or what he decided.
US officials have already been in contact with Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham to discuss the political transition in Syria and stress the importance of finding Austin Tice, an American journalist who was kidnapped in Damascus in 2012.
The US designation of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham and its leader as terrorists means that Washington cannot provide material support to the group but can communicate with them. Al-Julani said that Assad's departure means the necessity of lifting the sanctions imposed on the state.
American officials were encouraged by Al-Julani's conciliatory statements and his pledges for a unified Syrian presidency. But they say the challenge now will be to see if his actions match his words.
The European Union plans to reopen its mission in Damascus. Türkiye and Qatar are reopening embassies they closed after Assad brutally put down a 2011 popular uprising that turned into a civil war. Ankara, which has links to Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, was also involved One of the main supporters of the Syrian opposition factions.
The United States is concerned that ISIS may exploit the power vacuum in Syria to regroup and launch new attacks. There are still about 900 American soldiers in the northeast of the country to confront the terrorist group. The United States has intensified its military operations against ISIS since the collapse of the Assad regime earlier this month.
