U.S. to revoke terror designation for Syrian group that overthrew Assad

The State Department is revoking the foreign terrorist organization (FTO) designation for the al-Nusrah Front, aka Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Islamic rebel group that overthrew the Assad regime earlier this year.

HTS is an Al-Qaeda derivative and operated out of northwestern Syria until earlier this year, when it orchestrated a rapid offensive that overtook the Syrian Arab Army and forced President Bashar al-Assad to flee. The group's Ahmed al-Sharaa, aka al-Jolani, has since become the country's interim president.

"In consultation with the Attorney General and the Secretary of the Treasury, I hereby revoke the designation of al-Nusrah Front, also known as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (and other aliases) as a Foreign Terrorist Organization pursuant to section 219 (a)(6)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1189(a)(6)(A)). This determination shall be published in the Federal Register," Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote in a document sent to the Federal Register. "The revocation goes into effect upon publication."

The document remains formally unpublished, but is set for publication on Tuesday. The unpublished document is available here.

Under al-Sharaa's leadership, the new Syrian government has waged a brutal suppression campaign against minority Alawite and Christian groups under the guise of fighting the Assad regime's remnants. Shootings of Christians have occurred throughout the country, though the government insists it is tolerant of Syria's religious minorities.