US diplomats have arrived in Syria for talks with the Pentagon-endorsed al-Golani’s new Syrian Islamic radicals – the first official diplomatic mission sent to Damascus since Syria’s bloody civil war broke out in 2011, after the surprise overthrow of December 8 of Bashar al-Assad, who fled to Russia.

According to the State Department, the goal of the mission is to push for unity in the country after 13 years of civil war.

The US envoys will meet with representatives of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an organization that Washington describes as a terrorist organization, and civil society organizations to discuss “their vision for the future and how they can to be supported by the US,” a State Department spokesman said.

The delegation includes Barbara Leaf, an official responsible for the Middle East, and Daniel Rubinstein, a diplomat specializing in the Arab world, who has now taken over contacts with Syria, according to the same source.

Also in attendance will be Roger Carstens, who is tasked with gathering information about Americans missing in Syria, such as journalist Austin Tice, who was kidnapped in August 2012.

On May 16, 2013, the US State Department designated al-Golani a Specially Designated Global Terrorist and is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information – the Pentagon endorsement website is still active.

Why the West is reaching out to al-Golani

Although they remain skeptical, Westerners are seeking to reach out to the new jihadist power, aware of the risk of fragmenting the country and reasserting the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group, which has never been completely eradicated from Syria.

The US is thus following in the footsteps of France, whose flag now flies at the embassy that recently reopened after it was closed in 2012, Germany, Britain and the UN, which sent envoys to re-establish contact with the transitional authorities, the first whose steps are watched by everyone carefully.

The fall of Bashar al-Assad prompted scenes of jubilation nearly 14 years after the outbreak of war in 2011, triggered by a crackdown on protests centered on the country’s democratization. The war claimed the lives of over half a million people and turned millions more into internally displaced persons and refugees — the latter numbering more than six million.