The United States revokes the listing of HST's foreign terrorists, Assad Ouster's group – country
U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has revoked the Al-Nusrah Front's foreign terrorist group designation, also known as tahrir al-sham, according to a State Department memorandum filed on Monday.
The June 23 memorandum was signed by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and was published in a preview of the Federal Register on Tuesday.
The move comes a week after Trump signed an executive order that ended a U.S. sanctions program in Syria to help end the country’s segregation from the international financial system and build amid Washington’s commitment to help it rebuild after the devastating civil war.
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“In consultation with the Attorney General and the Minister of Finance, I hereby revoke the name of al-Nusrah Front, also known as Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (and other alias) as a foreign terrorist organization,” Rubio wrote in the memorandum.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham or HTS is a Syrian branch of al-Qaeda or Nusra Front.
In December, Syria's current President Ahmed Al-Sharaa led the HTS, joining other Islamic rebels in a lightning offensive to expel former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Sharaa's HTS cut off al-Qaeda relations a few years ago and expressed hope to build an inclusive and democratic Syria. The Syrian Foreign Ministry did not immediately comment.
Sharaa and Trump met in Riyadh in May and Trump unexpectedly announced amid a major policy shift that he would lift sanctions on Syria, prompting Washington to significantly alleviate its measures.
