UK confirms diplomatic contact with Syrian group HTS

LONDON

The UK government on Sunday confirmed having "diplomatic contact" with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Syrian group that recently overthrew the Bashar Assad regime.

"We 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," Foreign Secretary David Lammy said, as reported by the BBC.

Lammy clarified that this contact does not mean he has personally communicated with the HTS, emphasizing that interactions have been carried out through diplomatic and intelligence-led channels.

“For all of those reasons, using all the channels that we have available, and those are diplomatic and of course intelligence-led channels, we seek to deal with HTS where we have to,” he added.

The revelation coincides with the UK’s announcement of a £50-million (about $63.1 million) humanitarian aid package to support vulnerable Syrians affected by the ongoing crisis.

Lammy reiterated that the UK’s primary goal is to assist the Syrian people while fostering regional stability.

The announcement follows comments from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who on Saturday confirmed that the US has made “direct contact” with the HTS, which now controls most of Syria.

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said that no decision has been made on the potential removal of the HTS from the UK’s list of banned terrorist organizations.

The HTS was designated a terrorist organization in 2017 due to its classification as an “alternative name” of al-Qaeda.