Egypt Daily News – The U.S. State Department has officially removed Jabhat al-Nusra, formerly an al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria, from its list of foreign terrorist organizations. The decision, signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, was made public in a document dated June 23 and is scheduled for formal publication on Tuesday.
Jabhat al-Nusra, which later rebranded itself as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), had been designated a terrorist group by the U.S. since late 2012. The newly released memorandum confirms that the group is no longer considered a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. government. The document states that the decision was taken “in consultation with the Attorney General and the Secretary of the Treasury.”
HTS was led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, now Syria’s transitional president, until the group was formally dissolved earlier this year. In December, al-Sharaa and allied factions launched a swift military campaign that resulted in the ouster of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The group had previously declared it had cut ties with al-Qaeda, a move that was met with skepticism at the time but has since been followed by political developments suggesting a shift in its direction and objectives.
Back in 2012, the State Department had amended its terrorist designations to include Jabhat al-Nusra as part of al-Qaeda in Iraq, which later evolved into ISIS. A 2018 post from the U.S. Embassy in Damascus reiterated the group’s designation and noted the inclusion of various aliases such as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham.
The delisting of the group comes just a week after former President Donald Trump signed an executive order lifting U.S. sanctions on Syria. Observers suggest the move is part of a broader effort to reintegrate Syria into the international financial system and to support reconstruction efforts after more than a decade of civil war.
There has been no immediate comment from Syria’s Foreign Ministry regarding the delisting.
In May, al-Sharaa met with Trump in Riyadh, where the former U.S. president unexpectedly announced the end of American sanctions on Syria, signaling a major shift in Washington’s policy toward Damascus.
