The US has lifted a $10m bounty on Ahmed al-Sharaa, the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the strongest force to emerge in Syria after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, after the first face-to-face meeting between American diplomats and the HTS leadership.
Barbara Leaf, the state department’s senior diplomat for the Middle East, said Sharaa had given assurances in the meeting in Damascus that Islamic State (IS) and other terrorist groups would not be allowed to operate in Syrian territory.
Leaf said the US delegation informed Sharaa, formerly known by his nom de guerre, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, that Washington would no longer offer the $10m (£8m) reward for his capture, noting later that the bounty would complicate efforts to talk to the HTS leader.
“It was a policy decision … aligned with the fact that we are beginning a discussion with HTS,” she said.
“So if I’m 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’s head.”
Funny how that doesn't work the other way round; "it's a little incoherent to be having discussion with a terrorist who has a 10 million bounty on his head" but of course that would be some sort of sanity.
This was the year that any mention of "international law" or "rules based order" became utterly meaningless....no amount of cajolery, and no attempts at ethical or social seduction, can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party...So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin.
We'll see how long it is before he gets hung out to dry....no amount of cajolery, and no attempts at ethical or social seduction, can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party...So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin.
on December 21, 2024, 5:48 am