The White House announced on Friday that it has lifted the $10 million bounty for the capture of the insurgent commander responsible for the December 8 overthrow of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
Ahmad al-Sharaa, the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, who had previously used the name Abu Mohammad al-Golani, had been sought by the United States since May 2017 due to his past connections with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.
This move comes after a meeting in Damascus between al-Sharaa and Barbara Leaf, the Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, marking the first official talks between the U.S. and representatives of Syria’s interim government.
Following the encounter, Leaf told reporters that al-Sharaa had pledged to contain terrorist groups in the territories under his control and expressed a willingness to tolerate the country’s minority populations. The senior U.S. diplomat described the de facto ruler of the conflict-ridden nation as "pragmatic."
While al-Sharaa's personal sanction has been lifted, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham continues to be designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the U.S. State Department, a classification Leaf did not comment on during her statements.
Leaf's trip to the Syrian capital followed similar efforts by emissaries from the European Union and the United Kingdom to engage with the nation's rebel-led provisional authorities.
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