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8h ago

U.S. Revokes Terrorist Label for Syria’s HTS

The move executes Trump’s June executive order to lift Syria sanctions, aiming to unlock reconstruction financing despite core legal and UN curbs still in place.

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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

  • The revocation took effect July 8 upon publication of a June 23 memo by Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the Federal Register.
  • It follows President Trump’s May meeting with interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Riyadh and his June 30 executive order to terminate most U.S. sanctions on Syria.
  • HTS, led by al-Sharaa, ousted the Assad regime in December, severed al-Qaeda ties in 2016, dissolved as an armed faction in January and integrated into Syria’s security apparatus.
  • Key penalties, including Syria’s state-sponsor-of-terror designation, the Caesar Act restrictions and U.N. Security Council sanctions, remain in force pending congressional or council action.
  • Regional actors such as Saudi Arabia and Turkey have begun funding salaries and debts while U.S. envoy Tom Barrack reports that indirect U.S.-Syria and Syria-Israel dialogues have commenced.