US removes bounty from HTS leader's head after diplomats visit Damascus

Barbara Leaf says Ahmad Al Shara committed to ensuring terrorist groups do not pose threat in or outside Syria

Ahmad Al Shara, Syria's de facto leader is seeking international recognition after leading a blitz that toppled Bashar Al Assad's regime. AFP

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The US announced on Friday that Washington was removing the $10 million bounty offered for Hayat Tahrir Al Sham leader Ahmad Al Shara after a milestone meeting in Damascus.

Barbara Leaf, US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, said during discussions with the de facto Syrian leader, she emphasised “the critical need to ensure terrorist groups cannot pose a threat inside of Syria or externally, including to the US and our partners in the region”. She said that Mr Al Shara had “committed to this”.

“Based on our discussion, I told him we would not be pursuing the Rewards for Justice, the reward offer that has been in effect for some years,” Ms Leaf said during a briefing.

The announcement represents a diplomatic victory for Mr Al Shara, who has dropped his nom de guerre, Abu Mohammed Al Jawlani, as he seeks to earn international recognition and moderate his reputation after leading HTS and other rebel groups in a blitz operation this month that toppled former president Bashar Al Assad's regime.

The US has designated HTS as a terrorist group and Ms Leaf emphasised that the lifting of Mr Al Shara's bounty was “a policy decision, aligned with the fact that we are beginning a discussion with HTS”.

She did not discuss any possible steps on the terror designation of HTS but, on the issue of sanctions relief, said more broadly that Washington would “continue to refine our approach as we see the needs, but obviously it'll be a multilateral effort”.

The US official, leading Washington's first delegation visit to Damascus in more than 12 years, met Syrian civil society groups and emphasised that she had heard “a very common theme of one Syria for one people and unity above all”.

Barbara Leaf, US Assistant Secretary State for Near Eastern Affairs, third left, visits Damascus after the ousting of the Assad regime in Syria. Photo: US State Department Near Eastern Affairs / X

She hinted that should the transitional government in Damascus move in the direction of “internal pressure” to shed sectarianism, such measures would be “consistent” with the requirements necessary for Washington to lift sanctions, including those outlined in the Caesar Act.

The talks with Mr Al Shara represented “a good first meeting”, Ms Leaf said, adding that Washington “will judge by deeds, not just by words”.

Amid uncertainty on the north-east border with Turkey, Ms Leaf hinted that Washington's Nato ally “obviously has a very sizeable role, has sizeable influence” in Syria, and that the US is working “energetically” to achieve a ceasefire deal between Ankara and Washington's Syrian-Kurdish partner forces in the anti-ISIS mission.

“Everything has changed. The conditions which led Kurds in north-east Syria to organise themselves and to defend themselves as they did, were one set of conditions and things have really changed in a very dramatic fashion,” she said.

“We are working above all to de-escalate things there, to not distract from the really critical counter-ISIS fight while Damascus and the SDF [Syrian Democratic Forces] hopefully begin a dialogue themselves.”

Later on Friday, bipartisan US senators announced they had introduced a bill to place sanctions on Turkey if it does not achieve a ceasefire deal with the Kurds in north-east Syria.

Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen and his Republican colleague Lindsey Graham introduced the legislation aimed at pressuring Ankara to agree to a ceasefire and a demilitarised zone with Washington's Kurdish partners.

"We seek a united, inclusive, stable Syria for all Syrians – and supporting our Syrian Kurdish partners is essential to accomplishing that goal," Mr Van Hollen said.