Syria’s de facto leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, oreground left, formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, meets with Walid Ellafi, right, Libyan minister of state for communication and political affairs, in the presidential palace in Damascus, Syria, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. (Mosa’ab Elshamy/AP)
The Biden administration has decided to maintain the terrorist designation on 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.
The terrorist designation for HTS is a key obstacle to Syria’s long-term economic viability, but U.S. officials said the Islamist militants who stunned the world late last year by overthrowing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must demonstrate they have made a clean break with extremist groups, in particular al-Qaeda, before the label can be lifted.
“Actions will speak louder than words,” said one senior U.S. official, noting Washington’s lingering concerns about the inclusion of foreign fighters and jihadists in positions within Syria’s Ministry of Defense. The official, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive policy matter.
President-elect Donald Trump has appointed hard-line critics of Islamic extremism to top White House jobs, including Sebastian Gorka for senior director for counterterrorism and Michael Waltz for national security adviser. Leaving the terrorist-designation decision to Trump is expected to substantially extend the timeline of powerful U.S. sanctions on Syria.
Placement on the foreign terrorist organization list makes it illegal for U.S. citizens to provide “material support or resources” to the group and allows for financial sanctions or prosecution.
A spokesman for the Trump-Vance transition, Brian Hughes, declined to address specifics on the designation but said Trump “is committed to diminishing threats to peace and stability in the Middle East and to protecting Americans here at home.”
There is broad consensus in the international community that Syria desperately needs more aid and reconstruction initiatives after more than a decade of civil war.
While keeping the terrorism designation in place, the Biden administration on Monday eased several key restrictions on Syria aimed at jump-starting the country’s recovery and building goodwill with Syria’s interim government.
The U.S. Treasury Department issued a general license for six months that authorizes a range of transactions with the Syrian government, allowing humanitarian groups to provide services such as water, sanitation and electricity. It also allows for certain transactions with the Syrian government without the fear of sanctions, such as energy sales.
“The end of Bashar al-Assad’s brutal and repressive rule, backed by Russia and Iran, provides a unique opportunity for Syria and its people to rebuild,” said Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo. “During this period of transition, Treasury will continue to support humanitarian assistance and responsible governance in Syria.”
As a result of the U.S. decision, foreign governments such as Qatar plan to bankroll public-sector wages for a huge number of workers in Syria, a U.S. official told The Post.
The Qatari plan, first reported by Reuters, is key to shoring up Syria’s interim government, which pledged a 400 percent pay increase for public-sector workers. Syria’s new finance minister estimated that such a promise would cost $120 million per month, covering more than 1.25 million workers on the government payroll.
A U.S. official said the move would provide a major boost to the Syrian economy. “This kind of stabilization of people’s day-to-day lives will have an enormous impact,” the official said.
HTS, a former affiliate of al-Qaeda, publicly broke with the terrorist network in 2016 over strategic disagreements. The United States designated HTS as a terrorist group in 2018, and the group has been on a U.N. Security Council sanctions list for more than a decade, entailing an arms embargo and global assets freeze.
U.S. officials held their first formal meeting with al-Sharaa, the HTS leader formerly known by his nom de guerre, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, in Damascus last month and informed him it was lifting its $10 million bounty on him.
The U.S. assurance was made after al-Sharaa said he would not allow terrorist groups in Syria to pose a threat to the United States or Syria’s neighbors. “Ahmed al-Sharaa committed to this,” said the top U.S. diplomat for the Middle East, Barbara Leaf, after meeting him.
U.S. diplomats have made several trips to Syria to engage with the group in what a U.S. official called a proactive and prudent process. The official noted that lifting a foreign terrorist organization designation is a cumbersome process.
Another U.S. official said that the steps HTS must take to come off the list will take time and that the Biden administration made the right call by not forcing the U.S. political calendar on the Syrian government and the Syrian people.
Robert Ford, a former U.S. ambassador to Syria, said the U.S. government should provide clear and specific metrics to HTS about how to come off the list.
“The best thing going forward is for them to develop a set of benchmarks or criteria and present those to the HTS leadership, and begin a discussion about that,” Ford said.
An adviser to Trump, Ric Grenell, described the militant groups that overthrew Assad as “a mix of a lot of different types of people.” “We’re going to judge them by their actions,” he said in an interview last month with Newsmax.
