US had direct contact with Syrian rebel group, Blinken says

Aqaba, Jordan CNN —

The United States has had direct contact with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the Syrian rebel group that now has de facto control of the country, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Saturday.

The first public confirmation of direct interaction with the US-designated terrorist group, known as HTS, came at the end of Blinken's diplomatic sprint in the region, spurred by the sudden collapse of the regime President Bashar al-Assad.

Yes, we have been in contact with HTS and the other parties, Blinken said at a news conference in Aqaba, Jordan. Blinken did not provide details on when contact was made or at what level. There are no legal barriers to speaking with a designated terrorist group.

We have stressed to everyone we have been in contact with the importance of helping to find Austin Tice and bring him home, Blinken said, referring to the American journalist detained in Syria more than a decade ago. years. The United States stepped up efforts to find him following the collapse of the Assad regime.

The United States also shares the principles expected of a new Syrian government, including that the rights of all Syrians must be respected, that the country must not become a base for terrorism, that humanitarian aid must be provided and that chemical weapons stockpiles must be secured. and safely destroyed.

These principles, released by the United States in the days following Assad's shocking ouster, were further agreed in a joint statement by the United States and a coalition of other countries at a meeting urgent ministerial meeting in Aqaba on Saturday. Blinken said the agreement sends a unified message to the new interim authority and the parties in Syria.

Ahead of Saturday's ministerial meeting, Blinken met with key partners in Jordan, Turkey and Iraq to build consensus around the principles.

America and its partners have an important interest in helping the Syrian people chart this new path, America's top diplomat said Saturday. We know that what happens inside Syria can have far-reaching consequences far beyond its borders, from mass displacement to terrorism.

We cannot underestimate the challenges of the present moment and the weeks and months to come, he added.

Throughout his trip, Blinken sought to highlight these issues. Going forward, dynamics on the ground in the region could present significant complications, despite consensus on principles.

There has been an intense wave of fighting in recent weeks in northern Syria between Turkish-backed forces and the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which the US considers a partner. key in the fight to keep IS in decline.

A fragile truce between the two sides in Manbij appears to be holding, but the fighting has forced the SDF to suspend its anti-IS operations, according to its commander in chief.

This is a moment of vulnerability in which ISIS will seek to regroup, taking advantage of the transition in Syria, Blinken said on Saturday, again emphasizing the importance of the SDF.

In meetings with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Ankara, Blinken warned that the United States did not want to see any party take steps that would allow ISIS to regroup, including by distracting the SDF from its mission to keep the terrorist group degraded. and its fighters imprisoned, a US official said. Blinken also stressed that no one should take steps that could jeopardize the possibility of Syria's factions coming together under a unified government.

In Baghdad, Blinken asked Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani to crack down on powerful Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and prevent Iran from funneling weapons through Iraq to Shiite militias in Syria , said the American official. These militias have targeted U.S. personnel and interests in the past.

The response to Israeli actions in Syria has also emerged as a point of division between the United States and its Arab partners.

Benjamin Netanyahu's government has hit Syria with strikes and sent Israeli troops into and beyond a buffer zone between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and the rest of Syria, in what the United Nations called of violating a 1974 agreement. Middle Eastern countries, including Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan and Qatar, have condemned Israel's seizure of the buffer zone, calling it an attempt of grabbing lands.

The United States, however, did not condemn the move, with Blinken saying it was talking with the Israeli government.

The stated aim of these Israeli actions is to try to ensure that military equipment abandoned by the Syrian army does not fall into the wrong hands: terrorists, extremists, etc., he said Thursday. But we were already talking with Israel; were all discussing with others the way forward.

A U.S. official said Friday that Blinken intended to convey to his Arab counterparts that Israel had told the United States that the incursion was temporary and that the United States expected it to be temporary. . However, this policy could change next month when the Trump administration takes office, the official conceded.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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