Western Powers Resume Contacts In Syria To Prevent Chaos

(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Western powers are looking to establish contact with Syria's new rulers, aiming to avoid Iraq- or Libya-style chaos after the fall of the Assad Regime to Islamist-led opposition.
The situation in Syria, long allied with Iran and Russia, remains volatile and Western nations are wary of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) that seized power in a lightning offensive.
But none wants to pass up the opportunity to forge links, given the risk of fragmentation and resurgence of the Islamic State group, which has never been completely eradicated.
HTS remains proscribed as a terrorist group by several Western countries, including the United States.
"But there's a political reality... and clearly a race to establish contact the fastest," said a former ambassador.
"The main objective," he added, is that Syria does not fall into "total chaos".
As well as Brussels and Washington, Paris plans to send a diplomatic mission to Damascus from Tuesday, to "retake possession" of French real estate and make "initial contact" with the new authorities.
Spain is to appoint a special envoy while the UK has announced that diplomatic contacts have been established with HTS.
"Europeans waited for the American reaction, which encouraged them to take the step," said Hasni Abidi, director of the Study and Research Centre for the Arab and Mediterranean World in Geneva (CERMAM).
The approach was "pragmatic" while the Syrian people welcomed the rebels, he added.
Diplomats are not hiding the difficulties, with Syria at risk of fragmentation, the outgoing French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said in Brussels.
Europe has several levers at its disposal, including financial reconstruction aid and the eventual lifting of sanctions to push Syria's new authorities towards a political transition acceptable to the West.
Britain's foreign minister David Lammy on Sunday said London had "diplomatic contact" to ensure that a "representative government" is established and stocks of chemical weapons secured.
Volker Perthes, from the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), said this weekend that it was in everyone's interest to back a "UN-supported but Syrian-owned political process" for inclusive government.
The four French diplomats expected in Damascus Tuesday will try to "sound out the new leaders" on the potential threat to French national security, he added.
The European Union should be ready to ease sanctions on Syria if the country's new leadership takes "positive steps" to establish an inclusive government and respect women's and minority rights, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Monday.
Many EU foreign ministers at a meeting in Brussels also declared Syria should "get rid" of Russian influence such as military bases in the country, Kallas told reporters.
Kallas said she had sent a senior diplomat to meet officials from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
"We want to see no extremism, no radicalisation," Kallas said, adding that HTS was "saying the right things" so far but the group would be judged on its actions.
"We need to have... the plan ready when we see the steps... to act positively in this regard to help the development of Syria," she said.

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