Ahmed al-Sharaa led HTS, considered a jihadist group for years. Now, he has replaced Assad as Syria’s new president. And he is making the US and Europe shift their course.

The United States will revoke its designation of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) as a foreign terrorist organisation (FTO) as Washington softens its approach to post-war Syria following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government last year.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, was previously al-Qaeda’s Syria branch, or Nusra Front. The memo dated June 23 from U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was published in a preview of the Federal Register before official publication on Tuesday.