High-level US delegation visits Syria’s AANES
HASAKAH, Syria (North Press) – On Monday, the US State Department said that a US delegation visited northeast Syria on Sunday and met with senior officials there. The head of the delegation stressed support for continued stability in this region.
The State Department said on its official website that Acting Assistant Secretary of State Joey Hood traveled to northeast Syria, accompanied by the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and the Special Representative for Syria, Aimee Cutrona.
The delegation included Deputy Special Envoy for Syria David Brownstein, Director of the National Security Council for Iraq and Syria at the White House, Zahra Bell, according to the website.
The visit is the first American delegation of this level to the areas controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces since Joe Biden became president.
The delegation met top officials in the Syrian Democratic Forces and the Syrian Democratic Council and senior members of the Council, as well as tribal notables in Raqqa, in addition to military figures from the Global Coalition and humanitarian actors.
The Assistant Secretary of State stressed the commitment of the United States to cooperation and coordination in the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, the continuation of stability in northeast Syria, and the delivery of stabilization assistance to liberated areas to ensure the complete defeat of ISIS.
The US State Department said that the Acting Assistant Foreign Minister “stressed his country’s commitment to support all efforts aimed at a political solution to the Syrian conflict and responding to the humanitarian needs in Syria.”
The US official added that his country would work with “like-minded countries to ensure that cross-border assistance is re-delegated to Syria.”
In January 2020, the UN Security Council closed Tel Kocher (Yaroubia) border crossing between Syria and Iraq due to a Russian-Chinese veto.
Previously, United Nations agencies and international relief organizations used the crossing to deliver humanitarian aid to areas in northeast Syria.
The United Nations has to obtain permission from the Syrian government to transfer aid to northeast Syria. The Syrian permission is “often withhold or delayed,” according to a report by Human Rights Watch.