U. K. Confirms Diplomatic Contacts With Rebel Alliance Now Ruling Syria
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy. Photo: X/ @roshoo61
December 15, 2024 Hour: 3:20 pm
According to the British Broadcasting Company (BBC), the United Kingdom’s Government have stablished diplomatic contact with the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the rebel faction that overthrew the Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.
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Foreign Minister David Lammy has said, in statements recorded by the website of the channel, that the coalition, considered as a terrorist organisation by the UK, United States and the European Union, remains banned in the UK, but this does not prevent diplomatic contact.
On Sunday, Lammy said the UK “want to see a representative government, an inclusive government. We want to see chemical weapons stockpiles secured, and not used, and we want to ensure that there is not continuing violence.”
UK’s FM also states that for those reasons, they seek to deal with the HTS “all the channels that we have available, and those are diplomatic and of course intelligence-led channels” but, diplomatic contact with HTS does not mean the foreign secretary has personally been in touch with the group.
On the other hand, US Lammy’s counterpart Antony Blinken said that his country made “direct contact” with the islamist group. Blinken told reporters on Saturday that the US interaction with HTS was particularly about the fate of missing American journalist Austin Tice.
Lammy said that he followed the talks on Saturday in Aqaba when delegates from several countries, invited by Jordan, agreed on the importance of a “non-sectarian and representative government”, the protection of human rights, unrestricted access for humanitarian aid, safe destruction of chemical weapons and the fight against terrorism.
For his part, the British Prime Minister said earlier this week that the UK haven’t take any decision about HTS’s proscription status.
Autor: ACJ
Fuente: BBC // EFE
