US Drops $10 Million Bounty On Syria’s New Al-Qaeda-Linked Leader

Al Qaeda’s makeover didn’t take long!

The US has decided to scrap a $10 million reward for the arrest of Syria’s new Al-Qaeda-linked leader after just one visit from the State Department.

Diplomat Barbara Leaf claimed that the US received ‘positive messages’ during their talks with HTS leader Ahmed al-Sharaa in the Syrian capital Damascus.

ZeroHedge reports: On Friday we featured a tongue-in-cheek headline, but which is sadly all too literal and true: Syrian Leader With $10M Bounty On His Head Meets With Delegation From Country That Put The $10M Bounty On His Head.

US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf led the delegation along with Daniel Rubenstein, who is expected to stay in Damascus as America’s top diplomat there, as they met with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani in Damascus.

“The meeting took place and was positive, and positive results will emerge from it,” AFP cited a representative from HTS as saying.

The meeting focused on a ‘vision’ for the new Syria and officials discussed sanctions, the thorny issue of the $10 million reward, and locating missing US citizens in Syria.

It was only within a mere hours of the meeting that the US side decided to remove the $10 million bounty for the killing or capture of Jolani, who merely years ago was a full-fledged commander in ISIS, and subsequently a founder of al-Qaeda in Syria.

…he likes kittens, long walks on the beach, and spooning his 10 wives at night. Also, he cried during The Notebook…

“The US has scrapped a $10m (£7.9m) reward for the arrest of Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, following meetings between senior diplomats and representatives from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS),” BBC wrote just on the heels of the talks.

This is the same man who fought for al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), a group which targeted and killed American troops.

Nonetheless, the US delegation described that they are seeing signs of ‘moderate’ policies from the Al-Qaeda linked leader:

“We’ve been hearing this for some time, some very pragmatic and moderate statements on various issues, from women’s rights to protection of, you know, equal rights for all communities, etc,” Leaf told reporters. “Again, it was a good first meeting. We will judge by deeds, not just by words. Deeds are the critical thing.”

We have to ask: Would this fly in a US court of law?… 

…”your honor, I swear even though I recently had an ISIS phase and later I was founder of al-Qaeda in Syria, I have reformed myself and I am ‘moderate’!…”

“am definitely so over my al-Qaeda phase your honor… promise.”