The Obama administration pursued secret communications with elements of Syria’s regime over several years in a failed attempt to get President Bashar al-Assad to relinquish power, according to U.S. and Arab officials.
Early on, the U.S. looked for cracks in the regime it could exploit to encourage a military coup, but found few.
The Syria effort never gained momentum and communication was limited. This account is based on interviews with more than two dozen people, including current and former U.S. officials, Arab officials and diplomats. Most of these contacts haven’t been previously reported.
U.S. officials said communications with the regime came in fits and starts and were focused on specific issues. At times, senior officials spoke directly to each other and at others.
Mr. Assad tried at different times to reach out to the administration to say the U.S. should unite with him to fight terrorism.
The former US ambassador to Damascus, Robert Ford, who has strongly supported arming Islamist terrorist groups, said the Assad regime “is very supple politically. They’re very smart,” continuing, “They’re always testing for weaknesses and pushing the envelope.”
Still, in late 2013, communication lines between the US and Syria were not fully closed. On at least two occasions, Assistant Secretary of State Anne Patterson spoke with Syrian deputy foreign minister Faisal Mekdad regarding five Americans missing or detained in Syria.
Another diplomatic route was through Khaled Ahmad, a businessman from Homs province who was the primary liaison for US diplomats and other Westerners like Joshua Landis, Syrian expert and director of the Center for Middle East Studies.
