TEHRAN- The presence of a senior delegation of American diplomats in Syria along with their efforts to engage with the country’s rebel leaders primarily aims to mislead public opinion and further the US political objectives.   

The delegation includes Assistant Secretary of State Barbara Leaf, who is the top State Department official for the Middle East (West Asia). 

Daniel Rubinstein, who is tasked with leading the State Department's Syria engagement, is also part of the team. 

Also present is Roger Carstens, the Biden administration's top official for freeing Americans held overseas. 

The trip marks the first formal American diplomatic appearance in Syria in more than a decade. 

The United States closed its embassy in Damascus in February 2012 in protest against the Syrian government’s handling of demonstrations that broke out after the 2011 Arab Spring. 

But the overthrow of President Bashar Assad by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rebel group and its allies on December 8 prompted the US to move the goalposts. 

In the middle of this month, the chief US diplomat acknowledged that Washington had engaged in direct communication with HTS.

"We've been in contact with HTS and with other parties," Antony Blinken said during a press conference in Aqaba, Jordan, on December 14. 

Blinken referred to those discussions as "direct contact."

HTS has been included on the US terrorism list since 2018; however, American diplomats engage in discussions with the leaders of the rebel group in Syria. The HTS rebel group led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, previously known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, has its roots in Al-Qaeda and ISIL (also known as

ISIS and Daesh) terror groups. 

HTS represents a rebranding of the Nusra Front that was established in 2012 by ISIL. The Nusra Front separated from ISIL a year later and pledged loyalty to al-Qaeda. In 2017, HTS cut its connections with al-Qaeda and allied with other factions to rebrand itself as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.

HTS has already been designated as a terrorist organization by the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Britain, among many others. 

The United States is now publicly holding talks with a group that it designated as a “foreign terrorist organization” in 2018 under then president Donald Trump.

At that time the State Department accused HTS of being a “vehicle” for the al-Nusra Front “to advance its position in the Syrian uprising and to further its own goals”.

It seems that Washington has made no decision on removing the HTS terrorism designation until president-elect Trump once again takes the helm at the White House on January 20.  

The United States started sending its forces to Syria in 2014. Washington did so under the pretext of defeating ISIL. The terror group was defeated in 2017, but American troops still remain in Syria. 

The Pentagon spokesperson has now acknowledged that the US has more than doubled its troop presence in Syria.  

“We have been briefing you regularly that there are approximately 900 US troops deployed to Syria. In light of the situation in Syria and the significant interest, we recently learned that those numbers were higher,” Pat Ryder told reporters on Thursday.

He added, “So, asked to look into it, I learned today that, in fact, there are approximately 2,000 US troops in Syria.”

The Assad government had repeatedly accused the US of looting the country’s natural resources including its oil. 

For now, the US decision to hold negotiations with HTS and expand its military presence in Syria exposes Washington’s duplicity and double-dealing. 

Such talks indicate that the US blacklisting of HTS has just been a charade. American politicians are in fact throwing dust in the eyes of the public by establishing contacts with HTS which is the latest incarnation of the Nusra Front terror group. 

Besides, US military presence in Syria amounts to occupation. Making contacts with a “terrorist organization” and deploying additional troops to Syria means that the US is using the carrot-and-stick approach with HTS. 

The primary concern of the United States lies in exploiting Syria's oil resources and utilizing the nation as a strategic base to fulfill its regional objectives, regardless of the governing authority in Damascus.