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yesterday

U.S. Revokes Terrorist Designation for Syria’s HTS, Ends Key Sanctions

Publication of the revocation in the Federal Register cements a policy shift toward reengagement with Damascus under Ahmed al-Sharaa’s interim government

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Syria's new President Ahmad al-Sharaa in Ankara, Turkey, in February. The Trump administration is revoking the terrorism designation of a group led by al-Sharaa.
This photo released Dec. 4, 2018 by the al-Qaida-affiliated Ibaa News Agency, shows al-Qaida-linked fighters driving their vehicles during a military drill in northern Syria. It took the al-Qaida-linked militants only few days to capture more than two dozen towns and villages in and around Idlib province, cementing the group’s control over an area in northwestern Syria the size of neighboring Lebanon. The push by members of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, is the most serious blow to a September cease-fire for Idlib brokered by Russia and Turkey, and puts tens of thousands of civilians at risk of losing medical support due to a drop in aid from western agencies. (Ibaa News Agency, via AP)
US President Donald Trump (C) met with Syria's interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa (L), a former Islamist guerilla commander, during a visit to Riyadh on May 14

Overview

  • Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed the June 23 memo revoking HTS’s foreign terrorist organization status and it took effect with the Federal Register preview on July 7.
  • The move builds on President Trump’s June 30 executive order dismantling the main U.S. sanctions program on Syria imposed under the Assad regime.
  • Congressional measures such as the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act remain in force and can only be lifted through legislative action.
  • HTS, which severed formal ties with al-Qaeda by 2016 and overthrew Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, now seeks international investment to rebuild war-torn Syria.
  • U.S. and Syrian authorities have resumed talks on regional security, including steps to reimplement the 1974 disengagement agreement with Israel.