US envoy for Syria Leaves Position

US special envoy for Syria Joel Rayburn announced on Tuesday his resignation from his position.

Rayburn is one of the main architects of the Syria policy in the Trump administration, having served as senior director for Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon at the National Security Council from January 2017 to July 2018. He was a special envoy at the State Department for Syria.

In November, Rayburn became the acting envoy for the anti-ISIS coalition after the departure of James Jeffrey.

Rayburn confirmed his departure saying that it is more due to a routine change during the transition to a new administration than anything else.

“This is a normal rotation of personnel that happens during a transition from one administration to another,” Rayburn said.

He last week said that the Trump administration’s Syria policy had bipartisan support.