U.S. lifts bounty on Syria’s interim leader amid diplomatic outreach

Senior U.S. diplomats on Friday held their first formal talks in Damascus with the leader of the Islamist rebels who overthrew the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, a discussion they later characterized as “good” and “thorough.”

During the meeting, the U.S. officials informed Ahmed al-Sharaa, head of the U.S. designated terrorist group Hayʼat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), that the United States was lifting a $1o million bounty on him, Barbara Leaf, the top diplomat for the Middle East, told reporters.

Leaf provided the assurance after he agreed to a U.S. demand that he not allow terrorist groups in Syria to pose a threat to the United States or Syria’s neighbors. “Ahmed al-Sharaa committed to this,” she said.

“We had a good, thoroughgoing discussion on a range of regional issues,” Leaf said of her meeting with al-Sharaa, who is seeking to gain legitimacy for Syria’s new government and pressing Western leaders to lift sanctions imposed on the country during Assad’s brutal reign.

In explaining his reasoning, al-Sharaa told the BBC earlier this week, “The victim and the oppressor should not be treated in the same way.”

Al-Sharaa, also known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, claims he does not want to turn Syria into Afghanistan and said he believes in education for women.

U.S. officials have applauded such promises and said they will consider lifting the terrorist designation on HTS if the group demonstrates that it will rule in an “inclusive” and responsible manner. Such a decision would most likely fall to the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump and could take months or longer to implement.

“We will judge by deeds, not just by words,” Leaf said while noting that al-Sharaa came across in their meeting as “pragmatic.”

“We fully support a Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political process that results in an inclusive and representative government which respects the rights of all Syrians, including women and Syria’s diverse ethnic and religious communities,” said Leaf. “I heard him on his priorities, which are very much rooted in getting Syria on the road to economic recovery.”

The United States and Europe have imposed a vast array of sanctions on Syria following Assad’s crackdown on pro-democracy protests in 2011, which devolved into civil war. The post-Assad landscape is complicated by sanctions on HTS, a former affiliate of al-Qaeda.

Formerly known as Nusra Front, HTS broke ties with al-Qaeda in 2016. The U.S. designated it 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.

Leaf said the decision to lift the bounty on al-Sharaa was made to facilitate a productive discussion with the de facto ruler of Syria. “If I’m sitting with the HTS leader … suffice to say, it’s a little incoherent then to have a bounty on the guy’s head,” said Leaf. “We have a set of issues we would like to discuss with HTS over time.”

The U.S. delegation in Damascus included Roger D. Carstens, President Joe Biden’s envoy for hostage affairs.

Carstens told reporters he has been working with allies, nongovernment organizations, members of the media and Syria’s interim government to try to find missing journalist Austin Tice, who was kidnapped in 2012 while reporting on the war in Syria.

“There are other locations that need to be searched in the coming days, weeks and months, and we’ll be working with the interim authorities,” said Carstens, referring to HTS, which has pledged to assist in the effort to locate Tice and other American citizens imprisoned by the Assad regime.

He noted his surprise at the vast number of detention facilities under Assad’s control.

“I’ve been rather amazed at the amount of secret prisons that Assad seems to have amassed,” he said. “We thought there’d be maybe 10 or 20. It’s probably more like 40. It might even be more.”

Biden and other administration officials have expressed hope that Tice, who was 31 when he disappeared, is alive, but they acknowledge there has been no positive proof of life since a video surfaced in the first weeks after his abduction.

United Nations special envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday that HTS must take concrete steps to ensure the country gets the sanctions relief it needs.

“There is a clear international willingness to engage. The needs are immense and could only be addressed with broad support, including a smooth end to sanctions, appropriate action on designations too, and full reconstruction,” he said.

At the same time, U.N. aid chief Tom Fletcher said all countries should ensure that “sanctions and counterterrorism measures do not impede humanitarian operations” in Syria.