Syria Open to Talks with Biden if US Pulls Troops, Leaves Oil, Ends Militia Support

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Syria's permanent mission to the United Nations has told Newsweek that the country is willing to engage with Joe Biden's administration if he reverses the policies of its predecessors.

Such a reversal would include halting intervention in Syria's internal affairs, withdrawing U.S. troops deployed without Damascus' permission, and stopping the exploitation of oil and gas resources, the mission said.

It would also include ending assistance to the Syrian Democratic Forces, a largely Kurdish force seeking greater autonomy in the country's northeast, as well as aid to other non-state actors engaged in the civil war, according to the mission.

"The reason for the existing disputes with the United States of America is the policies of previous American administrations that include: interference in the Syrian internal affairs, occupation of territories in the Syrian Arab Republic, stealing its natural resources, and supporting separatist militias and armed terrorist entities in Syria," Syria's permanent mission to the U.N. told Newsweek.

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Should these conditions be met, Damascus would consider reestablishing ties with Washington, which severed relations in 2012 as Syria's Arab Spring-era unrest devolved into an all-out conflict between security forces, insurgents and jihadi factions.

"In the case that the US administration is ready to abandon these policies," the mission said, "Syria does not object to meaningful and purposeful communications far from the conditions that the previous administration was trying to impose on Syria with regard to the situation in Syria and the region."

https://www.newsweek.com/syria-open-...upport-1566646