Syria
US State Department Arabic language Spokesperson Geraldine Gassam Griffith speaking to Rudaw on July 16, 2022. Photo: Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - There have been no attempts to restore diplomatic relations with Syria, a US State Department spokesperson told Rudaw on Saturday while affirming that Washington is seeking a sustainable solution in Damascus.
An Arabic-language spokesperson for the US government told Rudaw's Nalin Hassan that the US "has always been committed to finding lasting political and peaceful solutions to the crisis in Syria," and blamed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government for the crisis in the country.
However, Spokesperson Geraldine Gassam Griffith denied Washington's support for normalizing diplomatic relations with Damascus, urging the world to "think carefully about the atrocities committed by the [Syrian] regime" with harsh US sanctions in place on Assad's government.
"Our efforts are continuing through international platforms to hold the Assad regime accountable for violations against the Syrian people," Griffith added.
Washington issued crippling economic sanctions against the Syrian government as a result of its war crimes and atrocities committed against civilians and protesters since the Syrian civil war began over a decade ago.
Griffith further slammed Russia and China for supporting the Syrian government, most notably Moscow's recent veto of a UN Security Council resolution to extend an aid delivery mechanism into rebel-held northwest Syria through the Bab al-Hawa crossing by one year.
The cross-border mechanism is the only way UN aid can be delivered to northwest Syria, which is under the control of a UN-designated jihadist terrorist organization affiliated with al-Qaeda called Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.
The mechanism was later extended by six months, the length of time desired by Russia, as opposed to the proposed year-long extension by Western nations.
Griffith stressed that the US remains committed to the lasting defeat of the Islamic State (ISIS) and "ensure that ISIS's caliphate is not restored on Syrian or Iraqi territory," and called on the international coalition to continue its activities against the jihadist group.
ISIS controlled vast lands in Iraq and Syria in 2014, but the jihadists became fully devoid of territorial control in 2017 and 2019 respectively. The group was dealt a decisive defeat by Kurdish forces in Syria when its last bastion of Baghouz was overrun and thousands of jihadists subsequently arrested.
In its propaganda magazine on Thursday, ISIS claimed to have conducted 7 attacks in Iraq and Syria from July 7 to July 13, killing and injuring 10 people.
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