The United States has considered removing the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group from the list of terrorist organizations. Fighters of the HTS led the overthrow of Bashar Assadʼs regime in Syria.
Politico writes about this with reference to sources.
The overthrow of the Assad regime dealt a heavy blow to Iran and Russia, which supported the Assad regime for their own geopolitical interests. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and its leader Abu Mohammed al-Julani played a significant role in this. However, the United States now recognizes the HTS as a terrorist organization, and in 2017 offered $10 million for information about Julani, who is considered a "particularly dangerous terrorist."
The United States recognized the HTS as a terrorist organization because of its connection with Al-Qaeda. But in 2016, Julani announced the severance of ties with al-Qaeda and began a campaign to rebrand himself and his group.
According to four current and former US officials familiar with the discussions, there is a raging debate in Washington over what to do next with HTS. Earlier, President Joe Biden said that the United States would cooperate with the Syrian opposition during the transition of power in the country. At the time, he noted that some of the rebels "have their own experience of terrorism and human rights violations" in the past. And even though they are saying the "right things" now, Washington will judge not just their words, but their actions.
The leader of "Hayat Tahrir al-Sham" Abu Mohammed al-Julani.
Getty Images / «Babel'»
Under the US law, the US Secretary of State can designate a group as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) if it engages in terrorism and threatens US security. The FTO designation allows prosecution of the group and its active supporters, as well as the imposition of sanctions.
An organization can be removed from the FTO list, but this decision is often made only after lengthy discussions. In addition, Politico writes, this move is difficult to decide politically: no president wants to be seen as the one who gave terrorists complete freedom of action by prematurely removing the FTO designation.
Politico points out that no one in Washington regrets the fall of the Assad regime in Syria. But they are wondering whether the head of the HTS al-Julani is a "moderate transitional leader", as he says about himself, or a "wolf in sheepʼs clothing".
"Many groups say the right things when they come to power because they are concerned about its fragility. And then, having consolidated power, they focus on the implementation of their ideology," said Gabriel Noronha, a former official in the Administration of the US President Donald Trump.
Nathan Sales, the State Departmentʼs former top counterterrorism special representative, called for al-Julani to be judged "on the course of his career" and not on what he has done in recent months.
So far, Joe Bidenʼs administration has taken a wait-and-see stance, saying they will monitor what HTS will do.
The overthrow of the Assad regime in Syria
Active clashes between the rebels and Syrian troops began on November 27. The offensive was launched by the Syrian Revolutionary Forces in "response to months of continuous attacks on civilians" by the Assad regime in Aleppo province. It was the most intense fighting in northwest Syria since 2020, when government forces seized areas previously controlled by opposition fighters.
In early December, the media reported that the Assadʼs Forces had lost control of Aleppo for the first time since the start of the military conflict that began more than a decade ago. Later, it became known about the loss of the city of Hama, the fifth largest in the country, by the Assad regime. And already on December 8, the Assad regime fell after the opposition attacked the capital Damascus.
The countryʼs prime minister is preparing to hand over the functions of the transitional government to her. The Russian Foreign Ministry said that Bashar al-Assad left the post of president of Syria and left the country, adding that he gave the order to transfer power peacefully and before that held negotiations with the participants in the conflict.
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