WASHINGTON DC - The United States “provided guidance” to the Syrian Mission to the United Nations regarding the modification of the visa status of its members in New York, a US State Department spokesperson told Rudaw on Thursday, emphasizing that Washington “currently does not recognize any entity” in Damascus as “the government of Syria.”
“The United States recently provided guidance to the Syrian Mission to the [United Nations] UN in New York regarding the visa classification of members of its mission,” the spokesperson stated.
Underscoring that “the United States currently does not recognize any entity as the government of Syria,” the spokesperson explained that “visa classification depends in part on the United States' recognition policy,” with the “administrative decision made on the basis of current U.S. recognition policy.”
The move comes after Washington recently downgraded visas for members of the Syrian mission from G1, for diplomats representing a permanent mission at the UN, to G3, granted to a mission or foreign nationals representing a government that is not recognized by the US.
However, according to the US State Department, ‘’there has been no change to the privileges or immunities of the accredited members of the Syrian Permanent Mission to the United Nations.’’
The state-run Syrian News Agency (SANA) on Monday quoted a Damascus “foreign ministry source” as downplaying “the modification of the legal status of the Syrian mission in New York” as a “purely technical and administrative procedure” and “does not reflect any change in the stance regarding the new Syrian government.”
SANA quoted the source as explaining that the Syrian foreign ministry is engaging with “the relevant authorities to address this issue” and to ensure that “that no misunderstandings arise regarding the related political or legal positions.”
The source further noted that “a comprehensive review of Syria's diplomatic missions abroad is currently underway, and serious decisions regarding their reorganization will soon be announced.”
The US is maintaining its non-recognition of any entity as the Damascus government despite Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa in appointing a 23-member cabinet in late March, which held its first official meeting on Monday.
Importantly, the cabinet selection raised many eyebrows for including figures blacklisted by the UN and the US over their reported ties to extremist armed groups, namely Interior Minister Anas Khattab.
US State Department spokesperson, Tammy Bruce, told Rudaw on Tuesday that the new Syrian cabinet has yet to meet Washington’s expectations regarding inclusivity.
“There's much more that has to be done that has not been done, and we're waiting to see them [leadership in Syria] take more action,” Bruce stated, adding that “there are expectations that have yet to be met, and so we're waiting to see what they're doing.”
In addition to concerns about forming an inclusive transitional government in Syria, the US remains wary of human rights violations in Syria.