Overview
- The government laid an order in Parliament on October 21, framing the move as necessary to work with Damascus on counter-Daesh operations, migration control and elimination of Assad-era chemical weapons.
- HTS was first banned in the UK in 2017 as an alias of al-Qaida, and forces led by the group helped topple Bashar al-Assad last December with Ahmed Al Sharaa now serving as president.
- Former foreign secretary David Lammy visited Damascus in July, renewing ministerial ties and setting the stage for deeper engagement.
- Ministers say the policy aligns with the United States’ earlier removal of HTS from its Foreign Terrorist Organizations list and they reserve the right to reassess if threats emerge.
- Conservative shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel called for an urgent Commons statement and said the decision should be backed by overwhelming evidence.