The Trump administration has revoked the designation of the Syria-based group "Nusra Front" as a foreign terrorist organization, according to a memorandum published online and cited by "Reuters".
"Hayat Tahrir al-Sham", or HTS, was previously the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda, or "Nusra Front". The June 23 memorandum by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was published in a preview of the "Federal Register" before its official publication on Tuesday.
We recall that in late November 2024 Armed opposition militias launched a large-scale offensive against Syrian army positions. On December 8, they entered Damascus. Hours earlier, Bashar al-Assad had resigned as president and fled to Russia.
The Western countries then took a course towards normalizing relations with Damascus.
Earlier, British Foreign Secretary David Lamick announced that Britain would resume diplomatic relations with Syria.
On July 4, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Shaibani announced after a phone call with Marco Rubio that Syria was ready to cooperate with the United States to resume the implementation of the 1974 disengagement agreement with Israel.
Last week, the White House announced that US President Donald Trump had signed an executive order easing some sanctions against Syria.
The executive order, the text of which was published by the US administration, notes that "sanctions against Syria are being lifted, but measures against Bashar al-Assad, his associates, human rights violators, participants in the chemical weapons program (...) remain in force".