Asaad el-Chibani visited Qatar on Sunday as part of a regional tour aimed at restoring diplomatic ties
New Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad el-Chibani met with Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Qatar, in Doha on Sunday.
This meeting comes at a time when Syria’s de facto Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTC) authorities seek to establish diplomatic ties with regional and international governments.
After meeting his Saudi counterpart in Riyadh on Thursday, Foreign Minister Asaad el-Chibani announced that he would then travel to Jordan and the United Arab Emirates to develop strategic partnerships and support Syria’s security and economic recovery .
Ahmed al-Charaa, the head of HTC, also welcomed the foreign ministers of Germany and France in Damascus on Friday.
The HTC led a lightning insurgency that ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Dec. 8, ending his family’s decades-long rule.
A brutal authoritarian regime
From 2011 to the fall of Bashar al-Assad, the uprising and civil war in Syria left around 500,000 dead.
Most countries around the world ended diplomatic relations with the former Syrian president over his brutal crackdown on protesters and sanctioned him, his Russian and Iranian associates.
Today, the new Syrian authorities hope to restore these ties and lift sanctions imposed on the HTC and its leader Ahmed al-Charaa, while the group is still considered a terrorist organization by many countries, as well as the United Nations. .
Qatar has supported opposition groups that fought against Bashar al-Assad and his allies and was one of the few Arab countries to oppose the restoration of ties with the former president and the return of Syria within the Arab League in 2023.
“We have raised our concerns in Doha regarding issues related to economic sanctions imposed on the Syrian people and we renew our call on the United States to lift these sanctions”declares Asaad el-Chibani, quoted by the Syrian radio station Sham FM.
Around 90% of Syrians live in poverty, while more than half the population is in a precarious food situation, according to the United Nations.
Ahmed al-Charaa announced the upcoming holding ofa national dialogue summit bringing together different groups across Syria. This will aim to agree on a new political roadmap leading to a new Constitution and elections.
Ahmed al-Charaa also promised to dissolve the HTC during this summit.