Barbara Leaf, the top US official for the Middle East, said on Friday that she had informed Syria's new leader, Ahmed al-Shaara, that Washington had waived the reward for his arrest, and welcomed the "positive messages". in discussions, including the promise to fight terrorism.
Leaf said he spoke with Shaaran about "the critical need for terrorist groups not to pose a threat inside Syria, or abroad, including to the United States and partners in the region."
"Ahmed al-Sharaa is committed to this point," Leaf told reporters after the meeting in Damascus.
"Based on our discussions, I told him that we will not ask for a reward for his arrest," said the American official.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States has since 2017 offered a $10 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, citing his past ties to the terrorist group, Al-Qaeda.
Leaf, part of the first official visit of US diplomats to Damascus since the first days of the civil war, said that Sharaa "has been pragmatic" and that the talks have been "good, very productive, and detailed".
"We have welcomed the positive messages" from Sharaa since his Islamist rebels ousted leader Bashar al-Assad from power, Leaf said.
Sharaa and his rebel group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), remain on the list of terrorist groups compiled by Washington.
Leaf has not spoken about this aspect.
HTS, the most powerful rebel group in Syria, was founded under another name, Jabhat al-Nusra, in 2011, and has been an affiliate of al-Qaeda.
The group is considered among the most effective in the fight against the Assad regime.
In addition to the USA, the group is considered terrorist by the United Nations, Turkey and the European Union.
The group's leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, severed ties with al-Qaeda in 2016. He has recently pledged tolerance for other religious communities and groups.
However, the group's violent past has raised many questions about whether it will be able to deliver on its promises.
The brutal Assad regime has been toppled after nearly 14 years of civil war, which has killed over 500,000 people and displaced millions more.
Assad and his family are in Russia, after the asylum that was approved directly by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin./ REL (A2 Televizion)
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