The Biden administration has lifted a $10 million bounty on the head of Ahmed al-Shalah, the leader of the group that overthrew Bashar al-Assad in Syria.
In return, al-Shara, also known as Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, agreed to US demands not to allow Syrian terrorist groups to threaten the US or Syria’s neighbors.
Barbara Leaf, the U.S. special envoy for the Middle East, told reporters Friday of her meeting with al-Shallah that “we had a thorough and thorough discussion on a variety of regional issues.”
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) ousted President Assad from Damascus earlier this month. HTS has tightened its grip on large parts of Syria, while other rebel groups remain in various parts of the country.
HTS was founded as an offshoot of al-Qaeda, but became independent from the organization in 2016. Evolving from Jabhat al-Nusra, which was designated a terrorist organization in 2012, the United States added a terrorist designation to HTS in 2018.
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The Biden administration has lifted a $10 million bounty on Chief Ahmed al-Sharaa, the leader of the organization that overthrew Bashar al-Assad in Syria.
“This was a policy decision and was in line with the fact that we have begun discussions with HTS,” Leaf explained.
“So if I’m sitting down with an HTS leader and we’re having a long, detailed discussion about U.S. interests, Syrian interests, maybe regional interests, if I just say something a little incoherent, I’ll put a bounty on that guy’s head.” It is enough to apply ”
Al-Sharaa claims he does not want Syria to become the next Afghanistan and believes in educating women, and the organization is seeking to shake its reputation and designation as an extremist.
“There has been a university in Idlib for more than eight years,” Shaller told the BBC, referring to Syria’s northwest province, which HTS has held since 2011.
President Bashar al-Assad was forced out of Damascus by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) earlier this month. (Borna News/Matin Ghasemi/Axonline ATP Images/Getty Images)
“I think the percentage of women in universities is over 60%.”
“He struck me as a realist,” Leaf said. “It was a good first meeting. I judge people by their actions, not just their words.”
U.S. officials visited Syria to push for the formation of a viable government and find information on the whereabouts of detained American journalist Austin Tice.
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The United States has had a complicated relationship with HTS due to its radical Islamist roots.
Al-Sharaa said HTS is not a terrorist group because it does not target civilians or civilian areas, and considers itself a victim of the Assad regime’s crimes.
According to the Pentagon, the U.S. has threatened to prevent a recurrence of the Syrian upheaval, which could pose a “grave security concern” that could lead to the release of ISIS prisoners amid the Syrian upheaval. In fear, it launched an aggressive air campaign in northeastern Syria to eliminate ISIS fighters. .
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The Pentagon said Thursday that the United States has doubled its troop strength to fight IS from 900 to about 2,000 before Assad’s fall.
