With the Assad era coming to an end following his overthrow by the Islamist-led rebels in Syria, Europe is recalibrating its ties with the war-ravaged country recognising the new geopolitical reality.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron are prepared to work with the Syrian rebel groups who ousted President Bashar al-Assad on certain conditions, according to a German government statement after a phone call between the two leaders.
The leaders of the European Union’s two largest powers welcomed the departure of Assad who had caused “terrible suffering to the Syrian people and great damage to his country”. The Syrian leader fled Damascus for Moscow on Sunday, ending more than 50 years of brutal rule by his family.
“(Scholz and Macron) agreed that they were prepared to work together with the new rulers on the basis of fundamental human rights and the protection of ethnic and religious minorities,” according to the German government statement published late on Monday.
The statement came as governments worldwide are scrambling to forge new links with Syria’s leading rebel faction Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a group formerly allied with Al Qaeda and which is designated a terrorist organization by the U.S., European Union, Turkey and the U.N.
Scholz and Macron agreed to work together to strengthen EU engagement in Syria, including support for an inclusive political process in Syria, and would discuss the way forward in close coordination with partners in the Middle East, the statement read.
Meanwhile, the outgoing Biden administration has started reaching out to partners in the Middle East region like Turkey to engage in informal diplomacy with the new regime in Syria.
Speaking at a State Department briefing, spokesperson Matthew Miller said Washington had a number of ways of communicating with various groups, one of which Washington has designated a terrorist organization.
“We have been engaging in those conversations over the past few days. The Secretary himself has been engaged in conversations with countries that have influence inside Syria, and we’ll continue to do that,” Miller said.
(With inputs from Reuters)
