Britain on Tuesday delisted Ha’yat Tahrir al-Sham as a terrorist group, whose leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, serving as president of Syria. File Photo by Fadel Itani/UPI | License Photo
Britain has removed Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham from its list of designated terrorist organizations, a move the United States made this summer.
Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham is a coalition of northern Syria-based Sunni Islamist groups that led to the toppling of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and whose leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, currently serves as president of the civil war-torn country.
London announced its decision to delist HTS in a statement Tuesday, saying it was done to create closer engagement between Britain and the new Syrian government and to support counterterrorism and chemical-weapons destruction priorities.
HTS toppled the Assad government in December, with the Trump administration lifting the United States’ terrorist designation from the Syrian group in July.
That same month, Britain’s foreign secretary, David Lammy, visited Syria and renewed diplomatic relations between London and Damascus.
“The U.K. will continue to press for genuine progress and hold the Syrian government accountable for its actions in fighting terrorism and restoring stability in Syria and the wider region,” Britain’s Home Office said.
“We will continue to judge the new Syrian government on their actions not on their words.”
HTS, formerly known as Jabhat al-Nursa, was founded as an al-Qaida affiliate in 2011, though it split from the terrorist group in 2017, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Britain designated HTS as a terrorist group in June 2017 over its links to al-Qaida.
Opposition MP Priti Patel, who serves as the shadow foreign secretary since November, criticized the move.
“The record of the HTS government in Syria when it comes to the protection of minorities leaves much to be desired. Labour must come to the House of Commons urgently to explain the evidential basis of this decision,” she said in a statement.
