US drops bounty for Syria's new leader after Damascus meeting

People wave independence-era Syrian flags during celebrations for the ousting of president Bashar al-Assad at the main Ummayad Square in the capital Damascus on December 20, 2024. Islamist-led rebels took Damascus in a lightning offensive on December 8, ousting president Bashar al-Assad and ending five decades of Baath rule in Syria. [AFP]

A senior US diplomat told Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa on Friday that Washington was scrapping a reward for his arrest as she welcomed "positive messages" from their talks, including a promise to fight terrorism.

Barbara Leaf, the top US diplomat for the Middle East, said she told Sharaa of the "critical need to ensure terrorist groups cannot pose a threat inside of Syria or externally, including to the US and our partners in the region."

"Ahmed al-Sharaa committed to this," Leaf told reporters after the meeting in Damascus.

"Based on our discussion, I told him we would not be pursuing the Rewards for Justice reward offer," she said.

The FBI in 2017 put up a $10 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Sharaa, earlier known by his war name Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, pointing to his swearing of allegiance to Al-Qaeda.

Leaf, part of the first formal visit by US diplomats to Damascus since the early days of the brutal civil war, said that Sharaa "came across as pragmatic" and that their talks were "quite good, very productive, detailed."

"We welcomed positive messages" from Sharaa since his Islamist-rooted HTS rebels toppled strongman Bashar al-Assad, Leaf said.

"We will be looking for progress on these principles and actions, not just words," she said.

Sharaa and his rebels, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, remain on Washington's terror blacklist. Leaf did not comment on the designation but said that after her discussions with Sharaa, "it's a little incoherent, then, to have a bounty on the guy's head."

Sharaa has spoken of inclusion and disbanding rebel factions. Leaf said she reinforced "the importance of inclusion and broad consultation during this time of transition."

"We fully support a Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political process that results in an inclusive and representative government which respects the rights of all Syrians, including women, and Syria's diverse ethnic and religious communities."

Assad, a largely secular leader from the Alawite minority, was the main Arab ally of Iran's Shiite cleric-run state, which has faced a slew of setbacks at the hands of Israel.

Asked about Iran's future role in Syria, Leaf said, "If I'm to judge by today, Iran will have no role whatsoever -- and it shouldn't, frankly."

Iran, with its deployment of Revolutionary Guards and Lebanese militia Hezbollah, "really preyed upon and really viciously brutalized the Syrian people," she said.