Diplomats from the US State Department have arrived in the Syrian capital Damascus to meet the new interim government formed by Hayat Tahrir Al Sham, a group Washington designates as a terrorist organisation.
This is the first visit by US officials to Syria since rebel groups deposed Bashar Al Assad earlier this month, signalling Washington's readiness to engage with HTS, an offshoot of Al Qaeda that later renounced ties with the terrorist group.
The US has a $10 million bounty on HTS leader Ahmad Al Shara, now Syria's de facto ruler, who says the group has shed its extremist stance.
The State Department said Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf, former special envoy for Syria Daniel Rubinstein and the Biden administration’s chief envoy for hostage negotiations, Roger Carstens, would hold talks with Syrian civil groups as well as the interim government.
“They will be engaging directly with the Syrian people, including members of civil society, activists, members of different communities, and other Syrian voices about their vision for the future of their country and how the United States can help support them,” the department said in a statement released early on Friday.
The trip comes a week after Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US had been in direct contact with HTS as he toured Syria’s neighbours, and follows diplomatic overtures by the EU and other countries that signal an end to Syria's pariah status under Mr Al Assad.
The State Department said Ms Leaf, Mr Rubinstein and Mr Carstens would meet HTS officials but did not say if that included Mr Al Shara, who has projected a moderate image since the takeover of Syria. US officials have welcomed Mr Al Shara’s statements about protecting minority and women’s rights, but they remain sceptical that he will follow through on them in the long run.
The visiting US diplomats will seek information on the whereabouts of American journalist Austin Tice who went missing in Syria in 2012. Tice, whose work has been published in The Washington Post, McClatchy newspapers and others, disappeared at a checkpoint in a contested area west of Damascus as the Syrian civil war intensified.
A video released weeks after Tice went missing showed him blindfolded and held by armed men and saying, “Oh, Jesus.” He has not been heard from since. The Assad government denied that it was holding him.
The US diplomats will also push the principles of inclusion, protection of minorities and a rejection of terrorism and chemical weapons that the Biden administration says will be critical for any US support for a new government.
Last week, Mr Al Shara met Geir Pedersen, the UN special envoy for Syria, in Damascus, who said the international community will “hopefully see a quick end to sanctions, so that we can see really a rallying around building up Syria again”.
The US has not had a formal diplomatic presence in Syria since 2012, when it suspended operations at its embassy in Damascus during the country’s civil war, although US troops have been stationed in the north-east to help prevent the resurgence of ISIS.
The Pentagon revealed on Thursday that it has doubled the number of US forces in Syria. The US has also significantly stepped up air strikes against ISIS targets over concern that a power vacuum would allow the extremist group to reconstitute itself.
The diplomats' visit to Damascus will not result in the immediate reopening of the US embassy, which is under the protection of the Czech government, according to US officials. Decisions on diplomatic recognition will be made when the new Syrian authorities make their intentions clear, the officials said.
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Who is Enric Sala?
Enric Sala is an expert on marine conservation and is currently the National Geographic Society's Explorer-in-Residence. His love of the sea started with his childhood in Spain, inspired by the example of the legendary diver Jacques Cousteau. He has been a university professor of Oceanography in the US, as well as working at the Spanish National Council for Scientific Research and is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Biodiversity and the Bio-Economy. He has dedicated his life to protecting life in the oceans. Enric describes himself as a flexitarian who only eats meat occasionally.
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According to the United Nations Environment Programme, all life on earth – including in its forests and oceans – forms a “rich tapestry of interconnecting and interdependent forces”. Biodiversity on earth today is the product of four billion years of evolution and consists of many millions of distinct biological species. The term ‘biodiversity’ is relatively new, popularised since the 1980s and coinciding with an understanding of the growing threats to the natural world including habitat loss, pollution and climate change. The loss of biodiversity itself is dangerous because it contributes to clean, consistent water flows, food security, protection from floods and storms and a stable climate. The natural world can be an ally in combating global climate change but to do so it must be protected. Nations are working to achieve this, including setting targets to be reached by 2020 for the protection of the natural state of 17 per cent of the land and 10 per cent of the oceans. However, these are well short of what is needed, according to experts, with half the land needed to be in a natural state to help avert disaster.
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Company profile
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63 - Mike Lorenzo-Vera (FRA)
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66 - Jon Rahm (ESP)
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Company%20profile
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The bio
Job: Coder, website designer and chief executive, Trinet solutions
School: Year 8 pupil at Elite English School in Abu Hail, Deira
Role Models: Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk
Dream City: San Francisco
Hometown: Dubai
City of birth: Thiruvilla, Kerala
