US lifting terrorist designation on Syria's HTS

The Trump administration announced Monday it is revoking the terrorist designation for Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the group responsible for the overthrow of Syria’s longtime dictator Bashar Assad but which grew out of an al Qaeda branch in the country. 

The removal of the terrorist designation comes about a week after President Trump directed the State Department to review HTS’s status as a terrorist group, part of a wide-ranging executive order lifting layers of sanctions on the country.