US Removes Terrorist Designation from Al Qaeda Affiliate in Syria

The State Department has removed from its list of foreign terrorist organizations Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra. It is also known as Al-Nusra Front and Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the move in a June 23 memo published on the Federal Register on July 7. “In consultation with the Attorney General and the Secretary of the Treasury, I hereby revoke the designation of al-Nusrah Front, also known as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (and other aliases) as a Foreign Terrorist Organization pursuant to section 219 (a)(6)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1189(a)(6)(A)),” he wrote....