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So fast want to whitewash our rebranded al Qaeda 'freedom fighter' woh...
For context, the Taliban is still blacklisted as a terror organisation by the UN and Afghanistan's state funds are still frozen
News Desk
DEC 9, 2024
(Photo credit: Getty)
US officials are considering removing Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) from the US terrorist list after the offshoot of the Islamic State of Iraq (later known as ISIS) helped achieve the long-term US goal of overthrowing the Syrian government led by President Bashar al-Assad, The Washington Post reported on 9 December.
“US officials are in contact with all the groups involved in fighting in Syria, including the main group that ousted Assad, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which was once affiliated with Al-Qaeda and remains on a US terrorist list,” the newspaper wrote.
A US official told The Post that the US government has not ruled out removing the terror designation from HTS to enable deeper US contact and cooperation with the group.
“We have to be smart … and also very mindful and pragmatic about the realities on the ground,” the official said.
Another US official said the White House is in the process of conducting a “real-time assessment” about HTS, which took control of Damascus on Saturday after a lightning two-week offensive launched from its stronghold in Syria's northwest Idlib Governorate.
The UK government is also considering removing HTS from the list of banned terrorist groups.
Cabinet Minister Pat McFadden told the BBC the situation in the country was “very fluid,” and if it stabilizes, any change in the ban would be a “relatively swift decision.”
HTS was proscribed as a terror organization in the UK after being added as an alias of Al-Qaeda in 2017.
McFadden confirmed the UK currently cannot communicate with HTS.
Syria's major cities, Aleppo, Hama, Homs, and Damascus, fell to HTS after President Assad ordered the withdrawal of the Syrian army from positions defending each of the cities.
“The fall of the Assad regime fulfills a longtime US foreign policy goal, after Russia and Iran supported Assad amid the Obama administration's efforts to oust him,” The Post added.
The former US special envoy to Syria said in an interview excerpt in March 2021 that HTS was an “asset" to US strategy in Syria.
Ambassador James Jeffrey said that the Al-Qaeda offshoot was the “least bad option of the various options on Idlib, and Idlib is one of the most important places in Syria, which is one of the most important places right now in the Middle East.”
At the time, the US strategy was to topple the Syrian government through punishing economic sanctions similar to the US sanctions on Iraq that killed 500,000 children during the 1990's.
On Sunday, Vice President-elect J.D. Vance expressed concern about the nature of the HTS militants, often referred to in the western press as “rebels.”
“Many of 'the rebels' are a literal offshoot of ISIS,” Vance wrote. “One can hope they've moderated. Time will tell.”
The Post added that US President Joe Biden says he is trying to ensure that Syria remains as stable as possible.
The newspaper claimed that a major concern of Biden's administration is that ISIS could seize advantage of the chaotic situation to reestablish itself as a major force in the country.
However, the US has supported ISIS in the past, including providing weapons to the organization to conquer Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, in June 2014. ISIS carried out the genocide of Yezidis in the nearby Sinjar district two months later, in August, with help from Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani, a close US and Israeli ally.
Earlier this summer, the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) released over a thousand ISIS prisoners from the central prison in Hasakeh in northeast Syria.
Iraqis in western Iraq, including Yezidis in Sinjar and Sunni Arabs in Mosul, expressed their alarm at the SDF's actions, fearing a return of the terror group.
So fast want to whitewash our rebranded al Qaeda 'freedom fighter' woh...
For context, the Taliban is still blacklisted as a terror organisation by the UN and Afghanistan's state funds are still frozen
US, UK consider removing HTS from terror blacklist to 'deepen contact' with Al-Qaeda offshoot
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham toppled the government of Bashar al-Assad on Saturday, accomplishing a long-time goal of US foreign policyNews Desk
DEC 9, 2024
US officials are considering removing Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) from the US terrorist list after the offshoot of the Islamic State of Iraq (later known as ISIS) helped achieve the long-term US goal of overthrowing the Syrian government led by President Bashar al-Assad, The Washington Post reported on 9 December.
“US officials are in contact with all the groups involved in fighting in Syria, including the main group that ousted Assad, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which was once affiliated with Al-Qaeda and remains on a US terrorist list,” the newspaper wrote.
A US official told The Post that the US government has not ruled out removing the terror designation from HTS to enable deeper US contact and cooperation with the group.
“We have to be smart … and also very mindful and pragmatic about the realities on the ground,” the official said.
Another US official said the White House is in the process of conducting a “real-time assessment” about HTS, which took control of Damascus on Saturday after a lightning two-week offensive launched from its stronghold in Syria's northwest Idlib Governorate.
The UK government is also considering removing HTS from the list of banned terrorist groups.
Cabinet Minister Pat McFadden told the BBC the situation in the country was “very fluid,” and if it stabilizes, any change in the ban would be a “relatively swift decision.”
HTS was proscribed as a terror organization in the UK after being added as an alias of Al-Qaeda in 2017.
McFadden confirmed the UK currently cannot communicate with HTS.
Syria's major cities, Aleppo, Hama, Homs, and Damascus, fell to HTS after President Assad ordered the withdrawal of the Syrian army from positions defending each of the cities.
“The fall of the Assad regime fulfills a longtime US foreign policy goal, after Russia and Iran supported Assad amid the Obama administration's efforts to oust him,” The Post added.
The former US special envoy to Syria said in an interview excerpt in March 2021 that HTS was an “asset" to US strategy in Syria.
Ambassador James Jeffrey said that the Al-Qaeda offshoot was the “least bad option of the various options on Idlib, and Idlib is one of the most important places in Syria, which is one of the most important places right now in the Middle East.”
At the time, the US strategy was to topple the Syrian government through punishing economic sanctions similar to the US sanctions on Iraq that killed 500,000 children during the 1990's.
On Sunday, Vice President-elect J.D. Vance expressed concern about the nature of the HTS militants, often referred to in the western press as “rebels.”
“Many of 'the rebels' are a literal offshoot of ISIS,” Vance wrote. “One can hope they've moderated. Time will tell.”
The Post added that US President Joe Biden says he is trying to ensure that Syria remains as stable as possible.
The newspaper claimed that a major concern of Biden's administration is that ISIS could seize advantage of the chaotic situation to reestablish itself as a major force in the country.
However, the US has supported ISIS in the past, including providing weapons to the organization to conquer Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, in June 2014. ISIS carried out the genocide of Yezidis in the nearby Sinjar district two months later, in August, with help from Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani, a close US and Israeli ally.
Earlier this summer, the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) released over a thousand ISIS prisoners from the central prison in Hasakeh in northeast Syria.
Iraqis in western Iraq, including Yezidis in Sinjar and Sunni Arabs in Mosul, expressed their alarm at the SDF's actions, fearing a return of the terror group.
