UK confirms contact with HTS and donates $50m in aid to Syrians

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy has confirmed the UK government has made "diplomatic contact" with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the main Syrian opposition group that toppled the Assad government. 

Lammy's comments come as the UK announced £50m ($63m) in humanitarian aid for Syria and Syrian refugees to be delivered through the United Nations and NGOs.

HTS has been a proscribed terrorist organisation in Britain since 2017 and has been listed by the Home Office as an "alternative name" for al-Qaeda, the armed group that carried out the attacks on New York's World Trade Center in 2001.

Although Prime Minister Keir Starmer said last Monday that it was "far too early" to make a decision on the status of HTS, cabinet office minister Pat McFadden said there would be a "relatively swift decision", and the issue "would have to be considered quite quickly".

Despite the ongoing proscription targeting the group, the UK has engaged with it.

Lammy said on Sunday that the UK "can have diplomatic contact and so we do have diplomatic contact, as you would expect".

According to Downing Street, some forms of engagement with proscribed terrorist groups are allowed and include "meetings designed to encourage a designated group to engage in a peace process or facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid".

Lammy told the BBC: "Al-Qaeda is responsible for a tremendous loss of life on British soil".

He added: "We will judge them [HTS] on their actions, I won't comment on future proscription but of course we recognise that this is an important moment for Syria."

Lammy said Britain wants to see a "representative government, an inclusive government" in Syria.

"We want to see chemical weapons stockpiles secured, and not used, and we want to ensure that there is not continuing violence.

"For all of those reasons, using all the channels that we have available, and those are diplomatic and of course intelligence-led channels, we seek to deal with HTS where we have to."

It is unlikely that the British government would delist HTS unless Washington did it first. 

The Biden administration is considering the matter, with the president saying just hours after the fall of Damascus that the US would assess "not just [the rebels'] words, but their actions". 

Humanitarian aid

The UK has also announced that it would channel £50m ($63m) in humanitarian aid to Syria and Syrian refugees.

The foreign office said around £120,000 ($150,000) will be given to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, an intergovernmental body based in The Hague.

A sum of £30m ($38m) will go towards food, shelter and emergency healthcare in Syria, while £10m ($13m) will be sent to both Lebanon and Jordan through the World Food Programme and the UN's refugee agency in Jordan, Unhcr.

Lammy said: "We’re committed to supporting the Syrian people as they chart a new course, first by providing £50m in new food, healthcare and aid to support the humanitarian needs of vulnerable Syrians. Second, by working diplomatically to help secure better governance in Syria’s future.

On Saturday, the UK participated in talks in Aqaba, Jordan, with several other countries - including the US, France, Qatar, Turkey and the UAE. 

The countries agreed on the importance of a “non-sectarian and representative government".

Lammy said: “This weekend, the UK and its partners came together to agree the principles required to support a Syrian-led transitional political process. It is vital that the future Syrian government brings together all groups to establish the stability and respect the Syrian people deserve.”