The United States is scheduled to hold rare talks with "private" Syrian officials this week in what American media consider a shift in tactics towards the country, which is on the State Department's blacklist for supporting terrorism. State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos told reporters Monday that the visitors are arriving as private citizens and not as government representatives.
The visitors include, Riad Daoudi, Syrian lead negotiator with Israeli officials in Turkey and legal adviser to the Syrian foreign ministry, and Ahmad Samir al-Taki, a consultant to the Syrian prime minister. The trip is being sponsored by a non-governmental organization, and Gallegos explained, "It is customary for us to receive such visitors."
In response to reporters' comments that the visitors are government officials, the spokesman replied, "We would see anybody who participates in this trip as...acting in a private capacity."