The Biden administration has lifted a $10 million bounty on the pinnacle of Ahmed al-Sharaa, chief of the group that overthrew Bashar al-Assad in Syria.
In alternate, al-Sharaa, also called Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, agreed to a U.S. demand to not permit terrorism teams in Syria to threaten the U.S. or Syria’s neighbors.
“We had , thoroughgoing dialogue on a variety of regional points,” Barbara Leaf, the U.S.’s prime envoy to the Center East, instructed reporters of her Friday assembly with al-Sharaa.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) drove Assad out of Damascus earlier this month. Whereas different insurgent factions stay all through the nation, HTS has amassed management over a lot of Syria.
HTS was based as an offshoot of al Qaeda however broke away from the group in 2016. It developed from the Nusrah Entrance, which was designated as a terrorist group in 2012, and in 2018 the U.S. added HTS’ terrorism designation.
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The Biden administration has lifted a $10 million bounty on the pinnacle Ahmed al-Sharaa, chief of the group that overthrew Bashar al-Assad in Syria.
“It was a coverage determination… aligned with the truth that we’re starting a dialogue with HTS,” Leaf defined.
“So if I’m sitting with the HTS chief and having a prolonged detailed dialogue concerning the pursuits of the US, pursuits of Syria, perhaps pursuits of the area, it is suffice to say a little bit incoherent then to have a bounty on the man’s head.”
The group has been attempting to shake its extremist popularity and the designation, with al-Sharaa claiming he doesn’t need Syria to turn into the next Afghanistan and he believes in schooling for girls.
“We have had universities in Idlib for greater than eight years,” Sharaa instructed BBC, referring to Syria’s northwestern province that HTS has held since 2011.
Bashar al-Assad was pushed out of Damascus earlier this month by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS. (Borna Information/Matin Ghasemi/Aksonline ATPImages/Getty Photographs)
“I believe the proportion of girls in universities is greater than 60%.”
“He got here throughout as pragmatic,” Leaf stated. “It was first assembly. We’ll choose by deeds, not simply by phrases.”
U.S. officers have visited Syria to push for a practical authorities and to search out data on the whereabouts of detained U.S. journalist Austin Tice.
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The U.S. has had a blended relationship with HTS as a result of its militant Islamist roots.
Al-Sharaa has stated HTS shouldn’t be a terrorist group as a result of it doesn’t goal civilians or civilian areas, they usually contemplate themselves to be the victims of the crime of Assad’s regime.
The U.S. has launched an aggressive campaign of airstrikes in northeastern Syria to take out ISIS militants, fearing a resurgence amid the upheaval in Syria which might result in the discharge of greater than 8,000 IS prisoners, “a major safety concern,” in accordance with the Pentagon.
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The Pentagon revealed on Thursday that the U.S. doubled the variety of its forces from 900 to roughly 2,000 to struggle IS earlier than Assad’s fall.
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