A delegation of American diplomats arrived in Syria to meet with representatives of several Syrian factions, including a rebel group designated as terrorists — who overthrew the country’s longtime dictator, Bashar al-Assad.

The trip to Damascus, the first of its kind in more than a decade, will involve encounters with “members of civil society, activists, members of different communities, and other Syrian voices about their vision for the future of their country and how the United States can help support them,” the State Department said in a statement early Friday.

The visit will also include at least one meeting with representatives of Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, or HTS, the Islamist group that with astonishing speed seized the cities of Aleppo, Hama and Homs before taking Damascus this month. Assad, whose family had ruled for more than half a century, fled to Moscow.

While HTS has publicly separated itself from al-Qaeda, it remains designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and other countries.

The U.S. diplomats plan to “discuss transition principles endorsed by the United States and regional partners,” the State Department said in the statement. Their agenda also includes trying “to uncover information about the fate of Austin Tice, Majd Kamalmaz, and other American citizens who disappeared under the Assad regime.”

Tice, a journalist from Texas, vanished in 2012, after Syria had become engulfed in civil war.

The U.S. delegation includes Roger Carstens, the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf and Daniel Rubinstein, a Near Eastern Affairs senior adviser and former ambassador to Tunisia, according to the State Department.

On Thursday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. has received positive signs from HTS. “It’s important to speak as clearly as possible, to listen, to make sure that we understand as best we can where they’re going and where they want to go,” he told Bloomberg Surveillance.

President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, has said the U.S. should “have nothing to do” with Syria.

Foreign Minister of neighboring Turkey, Hakan Fidan, will also travel to Syria’s capital, according to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkey seeks dismantling of U.S.-backed Kurdish forces in Syria, which it considers as terrorists.

Turkey’s government would “show that the time to neutralize terrorist organizations in Syria has come,” Erdogan told journalists. Turkey “cannot accept such a risk,” he said.

—With assistance from Firat Kozok and Taylan Bilgic.