US intelligence officials met with officials of the new government in Syria and passed secret information. The Syrian government is now controlled by Hayʼat Tahrir al-Sham, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization.
The Washington Post reports, “In the chaotic days after the fall of [Bashar] al-Assad, the Biden administration began to engage cautiously with HTS and its leader, Abu Mohammed al-Julani.”
“The intelligence exchange with HTS has occurred in direct encounters between US intelligence officials and representatives of HTS, rather than via third parties.” The Post continues, “[this] has involved exchanges between the two sides, in Syria and a third country. It began roughly two weeks after HTS came to power on Dec. 8.”
In late November, Julani’s HTS began an offensive against the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Assad’s forces were quickly overrun, and Julani seized power in Damascus within weeks.
The development in Syria caused a debate in the Biden administration on whether or not to support Julani and HTS. At the time, the US was offering a $10 million reward for Julani’s capture as he was a wanted terrorist.
The bounty on Julani was rescinded after an official from the Biden administration met with Julani; however, HTS remains on the State Department’s list of terror groups.
HTS grew out of the al-Nusra Front, an organization that Julani formed in 2009 in coordination with al-Qaeda’s central leadership. Juliani is a veteran of the Iraq War, where he fought for al-Qaeda in Iraq against US forces.
Even with this background, the Biden administration elected to try to develop ties with Julani. “It’s the right, prudent and appropriate thing to do, given that there was credible, specific information [about ISIS threats], and coupled with our efforts to cultivate a relationship with these guys,” one former US official told The Post.
The officials who spoke with The Post claimed that the intelligence passed to HTS was information about planned ISIS attacks.
When Julani formed al-Nusra, he did so with the support of ISIS and its then-leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Al-Nusra broke ties with ISIS in 2013 when Baghdadi attempted to bring al-Nusra under his control.
Kyle Anzalone is the opinion editor of Antiwar.com and news editor of the Libertarian Institute. He hosts The Kyle Anzalone Show and is co-host of Conflicts of Interest with Connor Freeman.
