The Biden administration has lifted a $10 million bounty on the head of Ahmed al-Sharaa, leader of the group that overthrew Bashar al-Assad in Syria.
In exchange, al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, agreed to a U.S. demand not to allow terrorism groups in Syria to threaten the U.S. or Syria’s neighbors.
“We had a good, thoroughgoing discussion on a range of regional issues,” Barbara Leaf, the U.S.’s top envoy to the Middle East, told reporters of her Friday meeting with al-Sharaa.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) drove Assad out of Damascus earlier this month. While other rebel factions remain throughout the country, HTS has amassed control over much of Syria.
HTS was founded as an offshoot of al Qaeda but broke away from the group in 2016. It evolved from the Nusrah Front, which was designated as a terrorist group in 2012, and in 2018 the U.S. added HTS’ terrorism designation.
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“It was a policy decision… aligned with the fact that we are beginning a discussion with HTS,” Leaf explained.
“So if I’m sitting with the HTS leader and having a lengthy detailed discussion about the interests of the US, interests of Syria, maybe interests of the region, it’s suffice to say a little incoherent then to have a bounty on the guy’s head.”
The group has been trying to shake its extremist reputation and the designation, with al-Sharaa claiming he does not want Syria to become the next Afghanistan and he believes in education for women.
“We’ve had universities in Idlib for more than eight years,” Sharaa told BBC, referring to Syria’s northwestern province that HTS has held since 2011.
“I think the percentage of women in universities is more than 60%.”
“He came across as pragmatic,” Leaf said. “It was a good first meeting. We will judge by deeds, not just by words.”
U.S. officials have visited Syria to push for a pragmatic government and to find information on the whereabouts of detained U.S. journalist Austin Tice.
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The U.S. has had a mixed relationship with HTS due to its militant Islamist roots.
Al-Sharaa has said HTS is not a terrorist group because it does not target civilians or civilian areas, and they consider themselves to be the victims of the crime of Assad’s regime.
The U.S. has launched an aggressive campaign of airstrikes in northeastern Syria to take out ISIS militants, fearing a resurgence amid the upheaval in Syria which could lead to the release of more than 8,000 IS prisoners, “a significant security concern,” according to the Pentagon.
The Pentagon revealed on Thursday that the U.S. doubled the number of its forces from 900 to roughly 2,000 to fight IS before Assad’s fall.
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