US officials have discussed the merits of removing a $10 million bounty on Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) leader Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, whose rebel group swept into Damascus and toppled the government of Bashar al-Assad on Sunday, a senior Arab official briefed by the Americans told Middle East Eye.

Ahmed al-Sharaa, commonly known as Jolani, has been designated as a terrorist by the United States since 2013, whilst his organization, HTS, was proscribed by the Trump administration in 2018 when a $10m bounty was placed on his head. For years, HTS lobbied to be delisted, but its pleas largely fell on deaf years with the group relegated to governing just a sliver of northwest Syria. 

But the lightning blitz by the 'rebels', which saw Assad's iron-grip rule end in spectacular fashion on Sunday, has since forced Washington to rethink how it engages with the former al-Qaeda affiliate.

The senior Arab official, who requested anonymity due to sensitivities surrounding the talks, told MEE that the discussions had divided officials in the Biden administration. Meanwhile, when asked about the discussions, one Trump transition official disparaged the Biden administration.

Jolani, 42, gave a rousing victory speech in Damascus' iconic Umayyad Mosque on Sunday and is widely expected to play a key role in Syria's transition after 54 years of Assad family rule.

"Today, Syria is being purified," Jolani told a crowd of supporters in Damascus, adding that "this victory is born from the people who have languished in prison, and the mujahideen (fighters) broke their chains".

He said that under Assad, Syria had become a place for "Iranian ambitions, where sectarianism was rife," in reference to Assad's allies Iran and its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah.

'Saying the right things now'

Speaking several hours after the fall of Damascus, US President Joe Biden called the rebel takeover a "fundamental act of justice," but cautioned it was "a moment of risk and uncertainty" for the Middle East.