US officials discussed merits of removing $10m bounty on HTS leader

US officials have discussed the merits of removing a $10m bounty on Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) leader Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, whose rebel group swept into Damascus and toppled the government of Bashar al-Assad on Sunday, a senior Arab official briefed by the Americans told Middle East Eye.

Ahmed al-Sharaa, commonly known as Jolani, has been designated as a terrorist by the United States since 2013, whilst his organisation, HTS, was proscribed by the Trump administration in 2018 when a $10m bounty was placed on his head.

For years, HTS lobbied to be delisted, but its pleas largely fell on deaf years with the group relegated to governing just a sliver of northwest Syria. 

But the lightning blitz by the rebels, which saw Assad's iron-grip rule end in spectaular fashion on Sunday, has since forced Washington to rethink how it engages with the former al-Qaeda affiliate.

The senior Arab official, who requested anonymity due to sensitivities surrounding the talks, told MEE that the discussions had divided officials in the Biden administration. Meanwhile, when asked about the discussions, one Trump transition official disparaged the Biden administration.

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