US to eliminate $10 million bounty on Syria’s Islamist rebel leader

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The United States has said it will remove a $10 million bounty on Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the Islamist group that led the overthrow of the Syrian Assad regime, in a sign that Washington is willing to commit to the new government. leadership.

In return, Jolani, who now uses his birth name, Ahmed al-Sharaa, agreed that terrorist groups could not be allowed to “pose a threat inside or outside Syria, including the United States and our partners in the region.” ”Barbara said. Leaf, the State Department’s top Middle East official, said Friday.

Leaf met with Jolani in Damascus that same day and told reporters that lifting the reward would allow U.S. officials to interact with the rebel leader without having to hand him over to U.S. authorities.

Leaf said his meeting with Jolani was “pretty good, very productive and detailed.”

“He seemed pragmatic,” she said, adding that he made “moderate” statements about equal protection for women and minorities. “We will judge by actions, not just words,” he added.

HTS is designated as a terrorist organization by the US, EU, UN and others, meaning Washington cannot offer material support to the group but can communicate with its members. Jolani has said that Assad’s departure means that sanctions on the state must be lifted.

U.S. officials have said they would consider lifting both the sanctions and the terrorist designation, which has been in place since 2018, if HTS demonstrated its commitment to “inclusive” governance and maintaining stability.

They say Jolani and an eventual transitional government will face internal pressure to take the necessary steps to have the sanctions regime lifted.

“I think there will be a certain degree of internal pressure on both the interim authorities and any transitional government that emerges in a few months, to move in a direction that is, in fact, in line with the kind of requirements that we have. would have in terms of sanctions,” Leaf said.

He added that Jolani had stressed that he wanted to start working on Syria’s economic recovery.

The US delegation to Damascus also included Roger Carstens, the US special envoy for the hostages, and senior diplomat Daniel Rubenstein, who will lead the Syria engagement.

The diplomats held meetings and visited a site in the capital as part of efforts to find Austin Tice, an American journalist who disappeared in Damascus in 2012.

Carstens said it was unclear whether Tice was still alive. “The information we have now does not confirm one way or the other,” he said.

U.S. officials say they plan to collaborate with transition officials and other Syrians on further trips to Syria as conditions permit.