UK in ‘diplomatic contact’ with Syrian rebels, says Lammy

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy has said the British government has had “diplomatic contact” with the Syrian rebel group that toppled the Assad regime.

Lammy said Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) remains a proscribed terrorist organisation, but the UK “can have diplomatic contact and so we do have diplomatic contact, as you would expect”.

His US counterpart Antony Blinken said on Saturday that the US had made “direct contact” with the HTS rebels now in control of Syria.

Lammy’s remarks come as the government announced a £50m humanitarian aid package for vulnerable Syrians.

Speaking on Sunday, Lammy said: “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.

“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.”

The diplomatic contact with HTS does not mean the foreign secretary has personally been in touch with the rebel group.

The UK closed its embassy in Damascus in 2013, two years after the Arab Spring protests began to be brutally suppressed there by the Assad regime.

Asked whether HTS could be removed from the UK’s list of proscribed terror groups, the foreign secretary said the rebel group remains a proscribed organisation that came out of al-Qaeda.

“Al-Qaeda is responsible for a tremendous loss of life on British soil,” Lammy said, adding: “We will judge them on their actions, I won’t comment on future proscription but of course we recognise that this is an important moment for Syria.”

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said no decision had been made yet on HTS’s proscription status.

On the cash pledge to the Middle Eastern country, Lammy said it followed talks on Saturday in Aqaba.

Hosted by Jordan, delegates from several countries agreed on the importance of a “non-sectarian and representative government”, protecting human rights, unfettered access for humanitarian aid, the safe destruction of chemical weapons and combatting terrorism.

The talks were attended by the US, France, Germany, the Arab Contact Group, Bahrain, Qatar, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the EU and UN.

HTS was not present at the meeting in Jordan.