After US cancels reward for HTS leader’s capture: Image disappears, group still listed
Shafaq News/ After the US canceled the reward for information leading to the capture of Ahmed al-Sharaa, head of the military operations in Syria, his image disappeared from the Rewards for Justice website.
Observers noted that a search of the
US website, which offers rewards for information on "wanted
terrorists," no longer shows the page for al-Sharaa, AKA Abu Mohammad
al-Julani. However, his group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS,) remains listed.
On Friday, during a visit by an American delegation to Damascus, the State Department's top Middle East diplomat, Barbara Leaf, announced that the US had canceled the $10 million reward for information on the HTS leader. The visit followed recent communications between French and British officials and the new Syrian authorities.
Leaf stated that she had met with the new Syrian leadership, including al-Sharaa, and told him that Washington would no longer offer a reward for his capture. "We discussed the need to ensure that terrorist groups do not pose a threat within Syria," she said, noting that al-Sharaa “has committed to this."
The US designated al-Sharaa as a terrorist in 2013, accusing him of being tasked by al-Qaeda in Iraq to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and enforce “strict” rule in Syria. The US also pointed to the Jabhat al-Nusra, which later became Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, as responsible for “suicide bombings that killed civilians and promoted a violent, sectarian ideology.”
In response, al-Sharaa maintained that the designation was “unjust,” emphasizing his “opposition to the killing of innocent people.”
Notably, the US and several Western powers expressed “satisfaction” when HTS-led factions overthrew Al-Assad on the 8th of December, after a surprise military assault and the sudden withdrawal of the Syrian army.
Several Western governments have started engaging with HTS and its leader, exploring the potential removal of the group from the list of terrorist organizations.
