Britain’s diplomatic contact with banned Syrian rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) risks giving the organisation legitimacy in the country after the fall of President Bashar Assad.
Senior officials met with the leader of the group earlier this week in the Syrian capital, Damascus.
After Mr Assad fled the country nearly a fortnight ago, HTS has named a prime minister to lead an interim government until March 2025.
Photographs showed senior officials, including the UK’s special representative for Syria, Ann Snow, meeting HTS leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, formerly known as Mohammed al-Golani.
Shadow Foreign Office minister Wendy Morton said that UK Government representatives meeting with the group would give them more credibility in Syria, at a time of political instability.
HTS was banned as a terror organisation within the UK in 2017, due to their connections with al-Qaeda.
Responding to a statement in the Commons by Foreign Office minister Anneliese Dodds, Ms Morton said: “This house has many serious questions about the decision… to establish a diplomatic channel with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.
“HTS is a proscribed terrorist organisation, but the Foreign Secretary says the UK is nonetheless able to have diplomatic contact.
So, can the minister clarify the specific legal basis on which she has established contact? And is HTS the only such organisation operating in Syria that now has a diplomatic channel?”
She asked whether Ms Dodds believed HTS would lead to a peaceful transition of power to a “genuine civilian government which protects minority groups”.
Ms Morton added: “The Government needs to be extremely careful, because by dealing with HTS and publicly doing so, there is a risk of legitimisation of the organisation and its position in Syria. These are very early days in the new post-Assad reality and we need to judge HTS by its actions and not its words.”
Ms Dodds said the UK Government supported the transition to a “secure and peaceful” Syria in the aftermath of Mr Assad’s rule.
The UK has given Syria £61 million in aid in total, after more was announced on Saturday. It will help provide healthcare, nutrition and support displaced children, she said. More than 16 million Syrians are in need of humanitarian assistance, inside Syria alone.
Ms Dodds said: “We are hopeful that anyone seeking a role in governing Syria will demonstrate a commitment to the protection of human rights, including for women and girls, to unfettered access for humanitarian aid, to safe destruction of chemical weapon stockpiles and to combating terrorism and extremism.
“The UK urges the transitional government to adhere to these principles, to build a more hopeful, secure and peaceful Syria.”
She added: “Along with our partners we want to see a new political process that is comprehensive, representative, inclusive and most importantly, determined by the Syrian people themselves.”
She went on to say: “For all these reasons it is right that the UK seeks to use all of the channels available to us to deal with HTS, where we have to.”
