The United States has removed the $10 million bounty on the de-facto leader of Syria, Ahmad al-Sharaa, following a high-level US delegation meeting with him in Damascus. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf, who led the delegation, described the decision as a “policy decision” aligned with the need to work on “critical issues” such as combating terrorism.
Al-Sharaa, who is the leader of the US-designated terrorist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), committed to cooperating with the US on issues such as combating terrorism, according to Leaf. The meeting was seen as an effort to engage with Syria’s interim government to ensure the country does not see a resurgence of ISIS, which US officials have warned will seek to regroup in the wake of the Syrian regime’s collapse.
The US delegation, which also included Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens and NEA Senior Adviser Daniel Rubinstein, was the first to travel to Syria following the collapse of the Syrian government. During the meeting, they discussed issues such as the protection of human rights, equal rights for all communities, and the search for an American journalist, Austin Tice, who has been detained in Syria for over a decade.
The US has focused its search for Tice on six facilities that it believes may have held him at one point, but due to limited resources, it has only been able to search these facilities so far. Carstens said that the FBI should be on the ground to help with the search, but until then, the US will work with its partners and allies to gather evidence.
The international community has also endorsed a set of principles to guide the transition to a new Syrian government, which would be inclusive and respectful of human rights.