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British diplomats have reportedly met with the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Syrian rebel group that ousted President Bashar al-Assad more than a week ago. Ahmad al-Sharaa, formerly known as Mohammed al-Golani, was pictured meeting with Ann Snow, the UK’s special representative for Syria, in the Syrian capital, Damascus. The group’s military operations department posted the pictures on social media, stating that the delegation had discussed “the latest developments” in Syria. The embassy meeting follows Foreign Secretary David Lammy’s announcement that the government had established “diplomatic contact” with HTS, considered to be a terrorist organization by the UK.
In an interview with The Times newspaper, Al-Sharaa called on Western countries to remove all sanctions and restrictions against Syria formerly imposed under the Assad regime – including HTS’s designation as a terrorist organization. Al-Sharaa maintained that the new government’s sanctions would still apply to the “flogger and the victim,” now that the flogger, Assad, has been overthrown.
Commenting on Syria’s future, Lammy expressed his hopes for there to be an inclusive and representative government, with secured chemical weapons stockpiles and an end to violence. The UK government has already allocated a £50m humanitarian aid package for vulnerable Syrians, most of whom are refugees in the region. The UN estimated that at least 374,000 Syrians have been displaced by the fighting that led to Assad’s removal in addition to the millions already displaced by the country’s long-running civil war.
Although the UK relabeled Hayat Tahrir al-Sham as a terrorist organization in 2017 after militants entered the Syrian city of Idlib, it previously maintained a relationship with the group to negotiate the release of Western hostages. Western countries appear to be realigning their approach to the conflict after the fall of Assad, with a NATO spokesperson stating that the organization is open to discussing matters with whatever government emerges in Syria
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