DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syria's new foreign minister met with his Qatari counterpart and Qatar's prime minister in Doha on Sunday, as Syria’s new de facto authorities under Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, establish diplomatic ties with regional and global governments.
Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani posted on X that he’s also set to visit Jordan and the United Arabs Emirates to develop strategic partnerships, and support Syria’s security and economic recovery.
Al-Shibani met with his Saudi counterpart in Riyadh on Thursday. And he also welcomed the foreign ministers of Germany and France in Damascus on Friday.
HTS led a lightning insurgency that ousted President Bashar Assad on Dec. 8 and ended his family's decades-long rule. From 2011 until Assad's downfall, Syria's uprising and civil war killed an estimated 500,000 people.
Much of the world ended diplomatic relations with Assad because of his crackdown on protesters, and sanctioned him and his Russian and Iranian associates.
Now, Syria under Islamist rule hopes to reestablish those ties and lift sanctions slapped on HTS and leader Ahmad al-Sharaa to help make Syria's battered economy viable again. Assad was backed by Russia, Iran and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. HTS now hopes Syria can strengthen ties with Arab countries in the region.
Qatar supported opposition groups that fought against Assad and his allies, and was one of a few Arab countries that opposed restoring ties with the ousted Assad and Syria's return to the Arab League in 2023.
“We conveyed to Doha our concerns about the challenges related to the economic sanctions imposed on the Syrian people, and we renew our call on the United States to lift those sanctions,” Syrian radio station Sham FM quoted Al-Shibani as saying.
Around 90% of Syrians live in poverty, while more than half of the population doesn't know where their next meal will come from, according to the United Nations.
Al-Sharaa has said he will hold a national dialogue summit that includes different groups across Syria to agree upon a new political road map leading to a new constitution and an election.
He vowed to dissolve HTS during the summit and has said in an interview with Saudi television network Al-Arabiyya that the de facto rulers are all of the same political background during this transitional phase for the sake of efficiency in running the country.
Still, it's unclear whether Washington will lift sanctions anytime soon. Europe, meanwhile, appears hesitant because of fears over how religious minorities and women will be treated.
This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani, left, meeting with Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, in Doha, Qatar, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025. (SANA via AP)
In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syria's Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani, left, stands with his German counterpart, Annalena Baerbock, center, and his French counterpart, Jean-Noel Barrot, in Damascus, Syria, Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. (SANA via AP)
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Jacksonville Jaguars coach Doug Pederson and general manager Trent Baalke never developed enough synergy, if any at all.
Pederson thought talent was Jacksonville's bigger issue as losses mounted; Baalke believed coaching was the problem. Regardless, the pairing wasn't working in Year 3 — and everyone inside the building knew it.
Jaguars owner Shad Khan could have justified a complete overhaul. Instead, the billionaire businessman settled for choosing between the duo. He opted for Baalke, a questionable decision that could affect who becomes Jacksonville’s next head coach.
Khan fired Pederson on Monday, a day after a 26-23 overtime loss at Indianapolis. It was the team’s 18th loss in its last 23 games. More surprising, he kept Baalke.
“I didn't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater,” Khan said during a Zoom.
Khan added that rebooting the coaching staff, the scouting department and the rest of the football operations staff would amount to firing roughly 85 people.
“To change all of that is almost like suicidal," he said. "That’s like shooting yourself in the foot. We need to go to work on something that is broken, that needs to be fixed and continually be improving things that are working.”
Khan made the move with one year remaining on Pederson’s contract and more than five months after the owner stood in front of coaches and players and declared this the “best team assembled by the Jacksonville Jaguars ever."
“Winning now” was Khan’s edict as training camp opened and after he committed nearly half a billion dollars to signing quarterback Trevor Lawrence, pass rusher Josh Hines-Allen and cornerback Tyson Campbell to long-term deals in the offseason. It was the most expensive stretch of roster building in franchise history.
And Khan got little return on his investment.
He blamed predictability on both sides of the ball as the main culprit in the team's downfall.
“Deception is a big part of it,” Khan said. “Unpredictability. If you know exactly what we’re going to do on offense or defense, you better have the 22 best players to help us win a football game. So being unpredictable is, I think, is modern football, and we have to be able to show that on the field.”
Pederson, who led the Eagles to their first Super Bowl title in 2018, finished 9-8 in his first two campaigns in Jacksonville and made the playoffs in his first year. He became the first coach in franchise history to start with back-to-back winning seasons and was a welcome relief following Urban Meyer’s 13-game tenure that was filled with dysfunction.
But Pederson’s injury-riddled team went 1-5 down the stretch in 2023 and missed the postseason after spending nearly two months atop the AFC South. He thought getting Lawrence healthy and revamping his defensive staff would change the team’s fortunes. Neither made a difference.
“It's unfortunate because at the end of the day we all had a hand in it,” receiver Christian Kirk said. “I have a ton of respect for Doug. He’s made me a better football player, better man. I think he’s one of the better coaches to have coached in this league, and it’s just unfortunate the way that things went.”
More damning: Pederson failed to develop Lawrence or create a team identity, handed play-calling duties to Press Taylor despite Khan making his wishes known and showed no urgency to try to fix a defense that regressed under new coordinator Ryan Nielsen.
“There’s a lot of factors that have gone into our season,” tight end Evan Engram said Monday. “It’s not just the coaching. It's everybody."
The Jaguars (4-13) have notched double-digit losses in 10 of Khan’s 13 years as owner. Now, Khan will hire his sixth head coach; current and creative NFL offensive coordinators Ben Johnson (Detroit) and Liam Coen (Tampa Bay) should top the list. But would they even agree to work with Baalke, whose draft picks have been mostly suspect and his latest free-agent class is arguably the worst in franchise history?
The 56-year-old Pederson went 23-30 with Jacksonville, a far cry from the Super Bowl-winning coach Khan thought he hired in February 2021.
His tenure with Jacksonville was mostly forgettable. Sure, there was the come-from-behind stunner over the Los Angeles Chargers in the AFC wild-card round in January 2023 in which Lawrence rallied the Jaguars from a 27-0 deficit and won 31-30. Otherwise, Pederson was fairly pedestrian.
His ultimate undoing came in close games, with Jacksonville going 3-10 in one-score contests this season. Whether that’s talent or coaching is debatable. Regardless, Pederson got little public support from players down the stretch.
Now Khan has to find the right coach to get Lawrence — and the rest of the team — to another level. It also will have to be someone amenable to working with Baalke, whose coaching list includes Jim Harbaugh (2011-14), Jim Tomsula (2015), Chip Kelly (2022), Meyer (2021) and Pederson (2022-24).
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Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson pauses during a news conference after an NFL football game against the Indianapolis Colts, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025, in Indianapolis. The Colts won 26-23 in overtime. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson pauses during a news conference after an NFL football game against the Indianapolis Colts, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025, in Indianapolis. The Colts won 26-23 in overtime. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
