Syria’s defacto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa had his $10 million bounty removed following the fall of Assad[Getty]
The United States has been sharing its own intelligence on Islamic State (IS) activity in Syria with the new transitional government in Damascus in a bid to prevent a resurgence of the organisation.
The intelligence has been shared through direct encounters between US officials and officials from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) which makes up the government, according to unnamed officials speaking to the Washington Post.
The intelligence has been given both inside Syria and in a third country and began roughly two weeks following the fall of the Assad regime.
One piece of intelligence that was handed to the transitional government prevented an IS car bomb attack against the Sayeda Zeinab Shrine in Damascus, a major site for Shia pilgrims which was used by Iran to mobilise Shia fighters to defend the Assad regime as part of its intervention.
HTS is still listed as a terror group by the US over its former ties with al-Qaeda, which it cut during its rebranding from Jabhat al-Nusra into HTS, as well as its close origins with IS which it became an arch rival of during the civil war.
Following the capture of Damascus in a lighting offensive against the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad, the outgoing Biden administration decided it would be up to the incoming Trump administration to decide whether to remove the listing.
However, although retaining the designation the US has send diplomatic representatives to Damascus to meet with the new government, as Syria reintegrates into the international community, has issued sanctions waivers, and removed a $10 million bounty on Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa.
The US has publicly warned HTS about an IS resurgence, and according to officials quoted by the Washington Post, HTS has responded positively in private communications to the US.
Following the fall of the Assad regime in December the US conducted large scale airstrikes in the Syrian desert against IS positions.
Likewise, the US has around 2,000 soldiers in northeast Syria embedded with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces as part of an anti-IS mission.
