‘No change in status’ of closed Syrian embassy in Washington: US State Department

Washington, Dec 17 (IANS) There has been “no change in status” of the Syrian embassy in Washington that has been closed since 2014, a spokesperson for the US State Department said.

“No, there is not,” Matthew Miller, the spokesperson, responded during a regular press briefing when asked by a reporter to confirm that “there’s no change in status of the Syrian embassy in Washington, D.C.,” Xinhua news agency reported

Miller’s remarks came a day after Syria TV, a state broadcaster now controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham — the main militia group that toppled the government of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad — reported that the Syrian embassy in Washington would reopen as soon as Monday.

Miller said the US government doesn’t “control” the building housing the Syrian embassy in downtown Washington, nor does it “control the operations that happen there.”

On the reported raising of the Syrian opposition flag at the embassy, Miller said the decision was made by the Syrian permanent representative to the United Nations, having gained no recognition from the government of the US.

The US ordered the shutdown of the Syrian embassy and the departure of Syrian diplomats in March 2014, reasoning that the al-Assad government, facing domestic upheaval for three years at the time, committed “atrocities” against the Syrian people.

A news advisory provided Monday by the National Press Club (NPC), a US domestic association for journalists, said the reopening of the Syrian embassy was scheduled for 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time, and that Debra Tice, mother of Austin Tice — the American freelance journalist reportedly abducted in Syria who remained unaccounted for — would attend the reopening ceremony.

Xinhua has reached out to the NPC, seeking confirmation of the embassy’s reopening.

–IANS

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