UK to decide ‘quickly’ on HTS’s terrorist status after ousting Syria’s Assad

The UK will decide “quickly” whether to remove the Islamist group HTS, which spearheaded the offensive to oust Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, from its list of terrorist organisations, a senior minister said on Monday.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) is rooted in Syria’s al-Qaeda branch, but broke ties with the group in 2016.

HTS is a proscribed organisation in the UK, meaning that Britain, like other Western nations including the US, designates it as a terrorist group, making it illegal to support or join it.

Pat McFadden, whose ministerial role includes responsibility for UK national security, on Monday said that the government was considering removing the group from the blacklist.

“If the situation stabilises, there’ll be a decision to make about how to deal with whatever new regime is in place there,” he told BBC Radio 4.

“I think it should be a relatively swift decision, so it’s something that will have to be considered quite quickly, given the speed of the situation on the ground.”