In face-to-face meeting, Ahmed al-Sharaa gave assurances IS would not be allowed to operate in Syria, US official says
, the strongest force to emerge in Syria after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, after the first face-to-face meeting between American diplomats and the HTS leadership.
“It was a policy decision … aligned with the fact that we are beginning a discussion with HTS,” she said. “So if I’m sitting with the HTS leader and having a lengthy detailed discussion about the interests of the US, interests of Syria, maybe interests of the region, it’s suffice to say a little incoherent then to have a bounty on the guy’s head.”
The Pentagon revealed on Thursday it had 2,000 troops inside Syria, more than twice the number previously reported. The defence department said the surge in the military presence was temporary and had happened in recent months. As rebel forces closed in on Damascus in the first week of December, Turkey and the Syrian militia it backs used the opportunity to launch attacks on Kurdish positions.
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