DAMASCUS: German and French officials are due to meet representatives of Syria’s new governing authorities in Damascus on Tuesday, expanding Western contacts with the new administration after British diplomats met its leader Ahmed al-Sharaa late on Monday.
Nine days after Bashar al-Assad was ousted, the new prime minister installed by Sharaa’s Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group said the government was grappling with very low currency reserves and called for sanctions to be lifted.
Western states are gradually opening channels to the new authorities in Damascus led by HTS, though they continue to designate it as a terrorist group.
Late on Monday, Sharaa, formerly known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, met a British foreign ministry delegation. He stressed the need for the restoration of ties and lifting sanctions on Syria so that Syrian refugees can return home, the Syrian state news agency SANA reported.
Photos published by SANA showed Sharaa, whose group was part of al Qaeda until he broke ties in 2016, sitting in a suit with an open shirt during the meeting, his highest level encounter yet with a Western government official since HTS seized power.
The images underline the geopolitical shift since Assad was toppled by HTS-led forces, a blow to Assad’s Russian and Iranian allies which could potentially open the way for Western states to reopen contacts with Damascus.
A statement, purporting to be the first by Syria’s ousted President Bashar al-Assad,
