The Biden administration is scrambling to search out methods to interact with teams in Syria and across the Middle East as victorious militias start shaping the nation’s future after the toppling of President Bashar al-Assad, the longtime autocrat.
The casual diplomacy throughout this dangerous interval has to happen by way of channels exterior Syria as a result of the United States closed its embassy in Damascus in 2012 and has no identified diplomatic personnel there. The State Department maintains a Syria workplace in its mission in Turkey, whose authorities has constructed shut ties to numerous Syrian militias, together with essentially the most highly effective one, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.
Facing a brand new Eleventh-hour Middle East disaster earlier than leaving energy, the Biden administration hopes to maintain the lid on a Pandora’s field of threats that would emerge from a post-Assad Syria. Among them are a resurgence of anti-American terrorists, new risks for neighboring Israel and a spasm of violence that would drive extra refugees from the nation.
U.S. officers have been chatting with their counterparts in Turkey in current days. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken talked with Hakan Fidan, the overseas minister of Turkey and a former intelligence chief, on Saturday because the militias have been transferring shortly towards Damascus, the capital of Syria.
Mr. Blinken “emphasised the significance of defending civilians, together with members of minority teams, throughout Syria,” in keeping with a State Department abstract of the decision.
It was clear Mr. Blinken meant for Mr. Fidan to convey that message to the militias.
