US tells Syrian rebels who ousted dictator Bashar al-Assad to destroy the country’s chemical weapons

The US held direct talks yesterday with the Syrian rebels who brought down the Assad regime – and insisted the new government must destroy the country’s chemical weapons.

Antony Blinken, US Secretary of State, spoke with the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group headed by Abu Mohammed al-Jolani after a crunch summit involving Middle Eastern nations in Jordan.

Mr Blinken refused to discuss details of the talks with HTS, which spearheaded the overthrowing of president Bashar al-Assad a week ago, although he said Syria’s new government must reject terrorism and destroy the former dictator’s chemical weapons stockpiles. It must also respect women and minority rights.

He told a news conference in Aqaba, Jordan, that ‘the US and our partners in the region have agreed on a set of shared principles to guide our support for Syria and its people’.

It came as Israeli air strikes continue to destroy much of the Syrian army’s assets.

There were fresh attacks on Lebanon, while a mother and her five-year-old daughter were among the dead after a municipal meeting in central Gaza was apparently targeted. The Israel Defence Forces said the air strike killed a key Hamas member.

Naim Qassem, the head of the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group, urged the new Syrian regime not to normalise relations with Israel.

He also said the Lebanese armed group had lost its supply route through Syria after the toppling of Assad. The foreign ministers of Egypt and Jordan demanded that Israel pull out of a demilitarised zone along the border with Syria. 

Syrians waving flags gather at Umayyad Square to celebrate the collapse of the 61-year Baath regime

Secretary of State Antony Blinken answers questions during a press conference at the US Embassy in China

And there were reports that Russian forces were vacating some front lines in northern Syria, while Assad and his family remain in Russia having been granted asylum.

Last night Mr Blinken said his message to the Syrian people was that ‘we want them to succeed and we’re prepared to help them do so’.

He said: ‘Syrians know they are going to need support from their neighbours and the international community to meet these challenges.

‘We’ve seen how the fall of an oppressive regime can swiftly give way to more conflict and chaos, how the shoes of one dictator can be filled by another. That’s why it’s so important that we and our partners came together today to agree on principles that will guide our efforts to help the Syrian people meet these challenges.’

HTS, which was once an affiliate of Al Qaeda, has been designated a foreign terrorist organisation by the state department since 2018.

But insurgent leaders say the group has broken with its extremist past. Al-Jolani last night said it was not about to enter into conflict with Israel, but said ‘the Israelis have crossed the rules of engagement’ in an interview with Syrian TV, although it did not broadcast details of any conversations with the US.