UK removes Hayat Tahrir al-Sham from its list of terrorist organizations

The United Kingdom government on Tuesday removed the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group, which led the alliance that overthrew Bashar al-Assad, from its list of proscribed terrorist organizations.

HTS, once part of Al-Qaeda, and its leader Abu Mohammad al-Jolani (Ahmed al-Sharaa) were proscribed in 2017; London had designated the group as a terrorist organization, making it illegal to support or join.

The government announced last December that it might review the ban, while the Donald Trump administration had removed HTS from the US list of foreign terrorist organizations in July.

The United Kingdom, along with other countries, welcomed the end of the Assad regime. HTS leader al-Sharaa became Syria’s interim president.

In a statement, the British government said that removing HTS from the list of proscribed organizations would allow for closer relations with the new Syrian government. London also added that it would enable cooperation with Syria to dismantle the chemical weapons program remaining from the Assad regime.

“The United Kingdom will continue to press for real progress and will hold the Syrian government accountable for its actions on counter-terrorism and restoring stability in Syria and the wider region,” the government said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Syrian Economy Minister Muhammad Nidal al-Shaar told Reuters at a conference in London that he hoped US sanctions on the country would be formally lifted in the coming months.

The chief of the British foreign intelligence service, MI6, Richard Moore, had announced in Istanbul that they had established contact with HTS and Jolani “a year or two” before Assad was overthrown.

It was also revealed that British National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell played a critical role in bringing Jolani and HTS to power.