On July 8, the Department of State removed Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), also known as Jabhat al-Nusrah, from the Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) list. In a press release previewing the delisting, Secretary of State Marco Rubio noted that the action fulfills President Donald Trump’s May 13 pledge to offer sanctions relief to the people of Syria. On June 30, the White House followed up on Trump’s promise by announcing that the United States would lift all sanctions on Syria, except for those imposed on former Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group. The White House ordered the State Department to review the listing of HTS and its leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, also known as Ahmed al-Jawlani. The State Department’s FTO delisting of HTS is in direct response to the White House’s order.
The move to delist HTS as an FTO is not without risk, especially when considering its lineage, and Jawlani’s historical direct links to two of the world’s deadliest terrorist groups: ISIS and al-Qaeda. Both organizations are still significant threats to U.S. national security interests.
Read the full article from CTEC Exec. Director Jason Blazakis here.