US sacks diplomats on Syria amid growing ties with Takfiri-linked HTS regime
The United States has abruptly dismissed some of its most senior diplomats focused on Syria from their positions amid a policy shift toward Damascus, a report says.
Citing five informed sources, Reuters reported on Thursday that the sacked diplomats were stationed at the Syria Regional Platform (SRP), the de facto US mission to Syria operating from Turkey’s Istanbul.
The sources, including a US diplomatic source, two Western diplomats and two US-based sources, said the dismissals were sudden, involuntary and came toward the end of last week.
The US diplomatic source said "a handful" of staff at the SRP were told their tours were ending as part of a re-organization of the team.
One of the Western diplomat, however, said the ousting of American diplomats was in part driven by "a divergence" in views between staffers and US Special Envoy for Syria Tom Barrack on the issue of the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US-supported group of Kurdish militants, and Syria’s self-proclaimed president, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani.
Barrack had earlier urged the SDF to bring areas it runs under control of Jolani’s ruling regime and integrate into the Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)-led militants.
Meanwhile, a US State Department official said it did not comment on "personnel decisions or administrative reorganizations,” claiming that "core staff working on issues pertaining to Syria continue to operate from multiple locations.”
On Thursday, Syria’s de facto foreign minister, Asaad al-Shaibani, travelled to Washington, where he was expected to meet US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Erlier this year, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to end sanctions against Syria. Additionally, the State Department revoked the designation of the HTS as a foreign terrorist organization.
The HTS-led militants announced the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government following a rapid two-week onslaught in December 2024.
Later, Western-backed Jolani, once affiliated with al-Qaeda and Daesh, was installed as president in Damascus.
Since then, sectarian violence has swept across Syria while Israel has mounted its acts of aggression against the Arab country and expanded its occupation there.
Critics say the West has been exploiting HTS’s control in Syria to promote instability and further its strategic ambitions in the region.
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