Britain has established diplomatic contact with the Syrian group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.
As Day.Az reports with reference to TASS, this was announced by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the United Kingdom, David Lammy.
“We want to see a representative, inclusive government. We want stockpiles of chemical weapons to be controlled and not used, we want to ensure that there is no continuation of violence there (in Syria),” the head of the Foreign Office said in a statement released to British television channels.
“For all these reasons, using all the channels available to us, diplomatic and, of course, intelligence channels, we try to deal with HTS in those areas where it is required,” Lammy added.
Earlier, the kingdom’s authorities promised to discuss the possibility of reviewing the status of the Syrian Islamist group. The UK Home Office website states that, according to a 2017 government decree, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham should be considered another name for the terrorist group Al-Qaeda, which was added to the list of banned organizations back in March 2001. As such, being a member of HTS or actively supporting it is a criminal offense in the UK, punishable by up to 14 years in prison.