An American delegation led by Barbara Leaf, the Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, is expected to arrive in Damascus for a meeting with Ahmad al-Sharaa, the Financial Times reported. 

According to FT, the meeting will be the first direct official contact between Washington and the leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) armed group. 

Meanwhile, Axios reporter Barak Ravid, citing US officials, stated that Leaf will travel to Damascus in the coming days.

Last week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken revealed that US officials have engaged in direct dialogue with HTS, urging it and other opposition factions to assist in locating Austin Tice, an American journalist abducted in Syria in 2012.

He added that Washington has outlined its expectations for Syria’s political transition to various actors.

The meeting, hosted in al-Aqaba, Jordan, included representatives from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Qatar. The gathering excluded Russia and Iran, al-Assad’s primary allies, and did not feature a Syrian representative.

It is worth noting that the United States has deployed forces in Syria for several years now, considered to be occupation forces by the previous regime. A Pentagon spokesperson said on Thursday that there are actually 2,000 US troops in Syria, more than double the previously publicly announced number of 900. Moreover, these forces had already been there before the offensive against the previous regime was launched. 

Read more: US prepared Syrian armed group to oust al-Assad: The Telegraph