For the first time since the fall of Assad, US State Department officials meet with Tahrir al-Sham leaders.
According to Reuters, a US State Department spokesman announced that senior diplomats from the country have traveled to Damascus to meet with the leaders of the terrorist group “Hayat Tahrir al-Sham” that currently controls Syria.
Reuters says this is the first official face-to-face meeting between Washington and the new Syrian ruling body. Barbara Leaf, the US State Department’s top diplomat for Middle East affairs, Roger Carstens, the US presidential envoy for prisoner issues, and Daniel Rubinstein, the newly appointed senior adviser responsible for leading US interactions with Syria, make up the US delegation that has left for Damascus.
The trip comes as Western countries and governments are gradually opening channels of communication with the terrorist group “Hayat Tahrir al-Sham” and Abu Muhammad al-Julani, the leader of this group.
After the fall of Damascus on December 8th following an attack by armed rebels and the terrorist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, former President Bashar al-Assad sought refuge in Russia, and Mohammed al-Bashir took charge as interim Prime Minister on December 10th.