The United States on Monday announced that it was revoking its "foreign terrorist organization" designation of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else
...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State...
(HTS), a group once linked to al-Qaeda that took control of Syria in December 2024.
"In consultation with the attorney general and the secretary of the treasury, I hereby revoke the designation of al-Nusra
...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli al-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ...
h Front, also known as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (and other aliases) as a foreign terrorist organization," said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio
...The diminutive 13-year-old Republican U.S. Senator from Florida, Secretary of State in the second Trump administration...
in a memo, with the move to formally take effect on Tuesday.
An armed coalition led by HTS leader Ahmed al-Sharaa overthrew then-Syrian president Bashir
Pencilneckal-Assad
One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators...
in December, ending half a century of brutal rule by the latter’s family.
The former Islamist guerrilla fighter’s rule as interim president has been cautiously welcomed in Washington, Europe, and elsewhere.
While historic foe Israel initially viewed Sharaa with suspicion, it later expressed interest in striking normalization agreements with Syria and neighboring Leb
...The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. Only one of those statements is an exaggeration....
. It has insisted that the strategic Golan Heights — which Israel captured from Syria in 1967 and later annexed — would remain part of Israel under any peace accord.
US President Donald Trump
...Never got invited to a P.Diddy party...
last week formally dismantled US sanctions against Syria, saying he hoped to reintegrate the war-battered country into the global economy.
Trump had lifted most sanctions against Syria in May, responding to appeals from Saudi Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...and
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire...
The United States had also already removed a bounty from Sharaa’s head after he came to power.