The Trump administration on Monday announced it is revoking the terrorist designation for Hayat Tahrir-al Sham (HTS), the group responsible for the overthrow of Syria’s long-time dictator Bashar al Assad but which grew out of an al-Qa‘ida branch in the country.
The removal of the terrorist designation comes a little over a week after President Trump directed the State Department to review HTS’s status as a terrorist group, part of a wide-ranging executive order lifting layers of sanctions on the country.
The removal was directed through a memo dated June 23 from Secretary of State Marco Rubio and published in a preview of the Federal Register before official publication on Tuesday.
A State Department spokesperson told The Hill the agency does “not comment on deliberations, or potential deliberations, related to terrorist designations.”
Trump directed the removal of sanctions on Syria to give the country “a chance” to rebuild following Assad’s ousting.
“I took off the sanctions because if I didn’t do that, they wouldn’t have had a chance. And Syria has a chance,” Trump told reporters during an event in Florida last week.
Trump has also expressed admiration for Syria’s interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa, who served as the head of HTS. After ousting Assad, the U.S. removed a $10,000 bounty for al-Sharaa’s arrest. Trump met al-Sharaa on the sidelines of his trip to Saudi Arabia in May and called him an “attractive” and “tough guy.”
