President Biden plans to punt the decision on whether to lift the official terror designation for Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) to President-elect Donald Trump.
Senior US officials speaking to The Washington Post on Thursday said HTS "must demonstrate they have made a clean break with extremist groups, in particular Al-Qaeda before the label can be lifted." An unnamed official noted that "Actions will speak louder than words." The report reads:
The Biden administration has decided to maintain the terrorist designation of Syria’s new Islamist rulers for the remainder of President Joe Biden’s tenure, leaving a critical decision about Hayʼat Tahrir al-Sham and its leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, to the incoming Trump administration, said three U.S. officials familiar with the matter.
While Washington had already quickly lifted the $10 million bounty which had long been on HTS leader Abu Mohammad al-Julani's head (or Ahmed al- Sharaa), the terror designation will remain.
The jihadist group which replaced the Assad government after the longtime leader's fall on December 8 (after which Assad showed up in Moscow) has been lobbying Western capitals to drop US-led sanctions.
Sanctions have decimated the economy, resulted in runaway inflation, and currently major cities have merely an hour of electricity a day amid winter conditions.
But the terror designation is likely to ensure that the bulk of sanctions remain on Syria, which chiefly hurts the already suffering and impoverished common population.
Ironically, the United States had covertly supported radical groups like HTS from the start of the war, which was ultimately a regime change operation imposed from outside.
One regional source reviews the following background:
Days after the fall of the Syrian government and the rise of HTS, Sharaa called on foreigners who joined HTS to receive Syrian citizenship, saying they are “part of the movement that led to the downfall of Assad and should be celebrated.”
As part of the US-backed covert war on the former Syrian government, ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi dispatched his deputy Abu Mohammad al-Julani – Sharaa's nom de guerre – and a group of extremist fighters from Iraq to Syria in August 2011 to establish the Nusra Front, Al-Qaeda's official branch in Syria.
Sharaa's group, which he would later rebrand as HTS, carried out suicide bombing attacks in Damascus in December 2011 and January 2012 before announcing their existence. Thousands of Salafist religious extremists from dozens of countries, including Britain, Belgium, France, China, Chechnya, Tunisia, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Saudi Arabia, joined Sharaa in the fight against Damascus.
A big question for Syria is: what's next? It could be headed toward being a failed state, with no infrastructure, reconstruction, or resources... or there is also likelihood of more civil wars and infighting. There's a chance, even if remote, of the country being revived, with future elections. However HTS has declared there won't be elections for at least four years.
Also, Israel occupies territory in the south, the US occupies oil and gas areas in the northeast, and Turkey controls much of the north near Aleppo. The situation isn't look good for the time being.