The U.S. State Department reported that an American delegation that visited Damascus today discussed the power transition in Syria with Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham.

Senior U.S. diplomats, led by Assistant Secretary of State Barbara Leaf, arrived in Damascus for the first official meeting with the group’s leader, Ahmad al-Shar’a, to assess the group’s plans, previously affiliated with al-Qaeda, for governing the country following the collapse of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.