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The US is set to take the Syrian Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) off its list of foreign terrorist organisations on Tuesday, according to a state department memo. <\/p>\n
The group led a rebel offensive in December that toppled the Assad regime, which had ruled Syria for 54 years. Its leader Ahmed al-Sharaa is now the country’s interim president.<\/p>\n
HTS, also known as al-Nusra Front, was previously al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria until al-Sharaa severed ties in 2016. <\/p>\n
In recent months, Western countries have sought to reset relations with Syria – which has faced heavy sanctions aimed at the old regime. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
In late June, President Trump signed an executive order to formally end US sanctions against the country<\/a>, with the White House saying the move was intended to support its “path to stability and peace”.<\/p>\n It added it would monitor the new Syrian government’s actions including “taking concrete steps toward normalising ties with Israel” as well as “addressing foreign terrorists” and “banning Palestinian terrorist groups”.<\/p>\n Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani said the move would “lift the obstacle” to economic recovery and open the country to the international community.<\/p>\n On Friday, Syria said it was willing to cooperate with the US to reimplement a 1974 disengagement agreement with Israel.<\/p>\n Over the weekend, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy visited Syria<\/a> – the first government minister to do so in 14 years.<\/p>\n He met with al-Sharaa and announced an additional \u00a394.5m support package – aimed at supporting longer-term recovery and countries helping Syrian refugees.<\/p>\n The UK earlier lifted sanctions on Syria’s defence and interior ministries. <\/p>\n Ninety percent of Syria’s population were left under the poverty line when the Assad regime was ousted after 13 years of devastating civil war.<\/p>\n Al-Sharaa has promised a new Syria, but there are concerns within the country about how the new government is operating – with some suspicious of his radical past. <\/p>\n Only one female government minister has been appointed to date – and al-Sharaa has made almost every other appointment directly. <\/p>\n There have also been multiple violent attacks against minority groups in recent months. <\/p>\n In March, hundreds of civilians from the minority Alawite sect were killed during clashes between the new security forces and Assad loyalists. In April there were deadly clashes<\/a> between Islamist armed factions, security forces and fighters from the Druze religious minority. And in June at least 25 people were killed in a suicide attack on a church in Damascus.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n