{"id":29039,"date":"2024-12-23T16:55:06","date_gmt":"2024-12-23T16:55:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/23\/biden-admin-lifts-10m-bounty-on-the-head-of-leader-of-islamist-group-now-in-charge-in-syria\/"},"modified":"2024-12-23T16:55:06","modified_gmt":"2024-12-23T16:55:06","slug":"biden-admin-lifts-10m-bounty-on-the-head-of-leader-of-islamist-group-now-in-charge-in-syria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/23\/biden-admin-lifts-10m-bounty-on-the-head-of-leader-of-islamist-group-now-in-charge-in-syria\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden admin lifts $10M bounty on the head of leader of Islamist group now in charge in Syria"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Biden administration has lifted a $10 million bounty on the head\u00a0of Ahmed al-Sharaa, leader of the group that overthrew Bashar al-Assad in Syria.<\/a><\/p>\n

In exchange, al-Sharaa, also known as\u00a0Abu Mohammad al-Jolani<\/a>, agreed to a U.S. demand not to allow terrorism groups in Syria to threaten the U.S. or Syria\u2019s neighbors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We had a good, thoroughgoing discussion on a range of regional issues,” Barbara Leaf, the U.S.\u2019s top envoy to the Middle East, told reporters of her Friday meeting with al-Sharaa.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) drove Assad out of Damascus earlier this month. While other rebel factions remain throughout the country, HTS has amassed control over much of Syria.\u00a0<\/p>\n

HTS was founded as an offshoot of al Qaeda but broke away from the group in 2016. It evolved from the Nusrah Front, which was designated as a terrorist group in 2012, and in 2018 the U.S. added HTS\u2019 terrorism designation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

FALL OF ASSAD, RISE OF TRUMP: WHY 2024 WAS A VERY BAD YEAR FOR IRAN<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

“It was a policy decision\u2026 aligned with the fact that we are beginning a discussion with HTS,” Leaf explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“So if I\u2019m sitting with the HTS leader and having a lengthy detailed discussion about the interests of the US, interests of Syria, maybe interests of the region, it’s suffice to say a little incoherent then to have a bounty on the guy\u2019s head.”<\/p>\n

The group has been trying to shake its extremist reputation and the designation, with al-Sharaa claiming he does not want Syria to become the next Afghanistan<\/a> and he believes in education for women.<\/p>\n

“We’ve had universities in Idlib for more than eight years,” Sharaa told BBC, referring to Syria’s northwestern province that HTS has held since 2011.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I think the percentage of women in universities is more than 60%.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

“He came across as pragmatic,” Leaf said. “It was a good first meeting. We will judge by deeds, not just by words.”<\/p>\n

U.S. officials have visited Syria to push for a pragmatic government and to find information on the whereabouts of detained U.S. journalist Austin Tice.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The U.S. has had a mixed relationship with HTS due to its militant Islamist roots.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Al-Sharaa has said HTS is not a terrorist group because it does not target civilians or civilian areas, and they consider themselves to be the victims of the crime of Assad’s regime.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The U.S. has launched an aggressive campaign of airstrikes <\/a>in northeastern Syria to take out ISIS militants, fearing a resurgence amid the upheaval in Syria which could lead to the release of more than 8,000 IS prisoners, “a significant security concern,” according to the Pentagon.<\/p>\n

The Pentagon revealed on Thursday<\/a> that the U.S. doubled the number of its forces from 900 to roughly 2,000 to fight IS before Assad\u2019s fall.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Biden administration has lifted a $10 million bounty on the head\u00a0of Ahmed al-Sharaa, leader of the group that overthrew Bashar al-Assad in Syria. In exchange, al-Sharaa, also known as\u00a0Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, agreed to a U.S. demand not to allow terrorism groups in Syria to threaten the U.S. or Syria\u2019s neighbors.\u00a0 “We had a good, … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29039\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}