The Biden regime is set to rescind the $10 million bounty on Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, leader of the jihadist terrorist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), following his pivotal role in toppling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
This decision coincided with al-Jolani’s initial direct talks with U.S. diplomats in Damascus.
Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, now referring to himself by his birth name as Ahmed al-Sharaa (Muhammad al-Jawlani), is the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a Syrian militant group that evolved from the al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra.
Following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, Jolani and HTS now control significant parts of Syria, including the capital city, Damascus.
He remains closely associated with the ANF faction and its al-Qaeda ties, raising questions about governance, stability, and the group’s true intentions.
Al-Jolani has been working to persuade the international media and foreign powers that he has transitioned from a terrorist commander to a statesman, but skepticism remains about whether such a transformation is genuine. Even if his intentions are sincere, HTS does not control all of Syria.
Power is shared with groups like the Syrian National Army (SNA), a Turkish-backed coalition of rebel factions operating primarily in northern Syria.
Now, the Biden regime is set to rescind the $10 million bounty placed under the State Department’s Rewards for Justice program on Abu Mohammad al-Jolan.
However, the U.S. State Department, while lifting the bounty, continues to designate HTS as a terrorist organization.
Financial Time reported:
The US has said it will remove a $10mn bounty for Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the Islamist group that spearheaded the overthrow of Syria’s Assad regime, in a sign that Washington is willing to engage with the new leadership.
In exchange, Jolani, who now goes by his birth name, Ahmed al-Sharaa, agreed that terrorist groups could not be allowed “to pose a threat inside of Syria or externally, including to the US and our partners in the region”, Barbara Leaf, the State Department’s top Middle East official, said on Friday.
Leaf met Jolani in Damascus earlier in the day and told reporters that lifting the bounty would allow US officials to engage with the rebel leader without having to turn him over to US law enforcement.
Leaf said her meeting with Jolani was “quite good, very productive, detailed.”
“He came across as pragmatic,” she said, adding that he made “moderate” statements on equal protections for women and minorities. “We will judge by deeds, not just by words,” she added.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) has accused Biden’s government of playing a covert role in the ongoing upheaval in Syria, asserting that the timing of events leading to the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad’s regime is no coincidence.
Speaking to former FOX News anchor Clayton Morris on Redacted, Massie implicated the “deep state” in orchestrating a chain of events aimed at fulfilling long-standing geopolitical objectives.
“I think that was the signal to the deep state to go in for the kill and get this over with because Trump and some of his nominees, like Tulsi Gabbard, are signaling that we are not going to carry on the policies of Obama and the deep state,” Massie said.
“It’s clear as day to me. Whether it was led by the United States or whether we just encouraged it, definitely the timing is not a mistake. When you find a turtle on a fence post, it didn’t get there by accident,” he added.
Read more:
