UK has opened diplomatic contact with Syrian rebels who toppled Assad, says Lammy
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Syrian rebels Hayat Tahrir al-Sham remain a proscribed terrorist group, UK foreign secretary says. The UK foreign secretary David Lammy has said the government has opened “diplomatic contact” with the Syrian rebels who ousted Bashar al-Assad’s regime last weekend.
![[HTS is led by Ahmad al-Sharaa, previously known by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Jolani]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/09/20/Syria_What%27s_Next_Explainer__73682.jpg)
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) is still a proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK, Mr Lammy said on Sunday, during remarks in which he also announced a £50 million humanitarian aid package for vulnerable Syrians. "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,” Mr Lammy told the BBC.
![[Syrians gathered across the country after morning prayers on Friday to celebrate the fall of the Assad regime]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/15/05/APTOPIX_Syria_33058.jpg)
"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.". Since HTS led the rebel offensive which caused the collapse of the Assad regime, Western governments have debated how the new Syrian rulers should be approached, given HTS’s links to al-Qaeda.
His US counterpart Antony Blinken said on Saturday the US had made “direct contact” with HTS. The £50m humanitarian aid package will be delivered through UN and NGO agencies to Syrians in the country and to refugees in Lebanon and Jordan, the Foreign Office said.
