US Senior Envoy to NE Syria Visits Raqqa
RAQQA, Syria (North Press) – On Saturday,US Senior Representative to northeast Syria, Nikolas Granger, visited institutions of the Autonomous Administration in Raqqa and discussed political, security, and service issues with its officials.
The US envoy first visited the Executive Council of the Autonomous Administration of North and East of Syria (AANES), the Raqqa Civil Council, and also met with Raqqa’s tribal leaders.
Abdulsalam Hamsork, the Deputy co-chair of the AANES’ Raqqa Civil Council, told North Press that this is the first public and official visit of a US official to the Civil Council since the US withdrew in 2019. Prior to Turkey’s military operation in northern Syria, the US-led Global Coalition withdrew its forces from Raqqa, Tabqa, Kobani, and Manbij in October 2019.
Last year, Granger visited the city of Raqqa on the fifth anniversary of the city’s liberation from ISIS and attended the ceremony alongside AANES officials. However, his visit to the Raqqa Civil Council is considered the first by a senior US official since the withdrawal of the US-led Global Coalition.
Hamsork added that they discussed the political and security challenges in the region, as well as the reconstruction of the city, which was destroyed to 90 percent as a result of the war.
“We handed over projects regarding the city’s security and others regarding the rehabilitation of sustainable key sectors to the US senior envoy during the meeting,” the official said.
“The US delegation gave strong promises on all levels” to provide support to the region, Hamsork noted.
On January 25, the Syrian Democratic Forces SDF launched a security operation to pursue ISIS sleeper cells in Raqqa with air support from the US-led Global Coalition – marking the first military operation by the Coalition in the region.
The Coalition has mainly provided air and intelligence support to the security forces and SDF during the operation.