(Adnkronos) – US diplomats have arrived in Syria to meet with the new authorities in a bid to urge them to promote unity after 13 years of civil war, the State Department announced. This is the first official diplomatic mission sent to Damascus since the outbreak of the civil war in 2011, which took a spectacular turn with the fall, on December 8, of Bashar al-Assad, who fled to Russia.
The US envoys will meet with representatives of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and civil society to discuss “their vision for the country’s future and how the United States can support them,” a State Department spokesperson said.
The delegation includes Barbara Leaf, the top US diplomat for the Middle East, and Daniel Rubinstein, an Arabic-speaking diplomat now in charge of Syria contacts. Also present is Roger Carstens, who is tasked with gathering information on Americans missing in Syria, such as journalist Austin Tice.
