The United States has been in discussions with Turkish officials, and Washington’s focus is on a “new Syria,” a senior official said Sunday after the fall of Bashar Assad’s 24-year regime.
The official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity, pointed to conversations between senior U.S. officials, including Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, CIA Director Bill Burns and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and their Turkish counterparts.
“I think those have been constructive engagements. The focus here is a new Syria and a transition away from Assad,” the official said.
“That is going to take an enormous effort from everybody. We think that should be the focus of those with an interest in building a better and future Syria. So, that is our primary focus. Therefore, additional conflicts, additional fronts opening up are not in anybody’s interest,” he added.
After a period of relative calm, clashes between Assad regime forces and anti-regime groups reignited on Nov. 27 in rural areas west of Aleppo, a major city in northern Syria.
Over 10 days, opposition forces launched a lightning offensive, capturing key cities and then, on Sunday, the capital, Damascus. The rapid advance, supported by defecting military units, led to the collapse of the Assad regime after 13 years of civil war.
Assad and his family had ruled Syria since 1971. President Joe Biden said the U.S. will now “engage with all Syrian groups, including within the process led by the United Nations, to establish a transition away from the Assad regime toward” a unified Syria “with a new constitution, a new government that serves all Syrians.”
Asked about U.S. contacts with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a U.S. and U.N.-designated terrorist group that has led one of the most significant anti-regime offensives, the official told reporters that the group “obviously will be an important component” of the transition in Syria.
“I think we will intend to engage with them appropriately and with U.S. interests in mind,” he said, noting that the group’s terrorist designation “is something that we’ll have to look to down the line.”
“I think what we’ll be looking for, in particular, is some of the statements that have been made actually being put into action. I think that would be quite important,” the official added.
The U.S. military has over 900 troops in northern Syria allied with the YPG, the PKK terrorist group’s Syrian wing that seeks to establish a terror corridor along Türkiye’s southern borders.
Ankara and Washington have been at loggerheads over U.S. support for the PKK/YPG, which has occupied much of northeastern Syria, including oil-rich regions, under the guise of fighting remnants of Daesh terrorists. Türkiye repeatedly calls on its NATO ally to cut off support to the terrorists that it says are a threat to its national security.
The PKK/YPG managed to generate funds by smuggling oil to the Syrian regime, but with the fall of Assad, it is an open question how the group will survive.
Washington on Monday said it would not withdraw its troops from eastern Syria, where it said it had struck at least 70 Daesh targets overnight.