Syrian rebel group HTS could be removed from UK's banned terror organisation list

The UK government could remove the group that led the Syrian rebellion from its list of banned terror organisations, a senior minister has told Sky News.

Pat McFadden told Sky News' Breakfast with Kay Burley a decision would be made "quickly" about whether to take Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS) off the proscribed terror list.

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Asked if the government planned to do so, Mr McFadden said ministers will "consider" it.

"I think it will partly depend on what happens in terms of how that group behaves now.

"I think countries around the world who proscribe HTS - it's not just the UK, the United States, European countries as well - I think probably will look at that now, and see what's going to happen in the future.

"It won't take that long. I think we need to do it quickly."

HTS led the offensive by rebel groups in Syria over the past week that saw the capital, Damascus, taken over and the Assad regime overthrown after years of civil war.

Bashar al Assad, who took over from his father to rule Syria for 24 years, has fled to Russia and is reportedly now in Moscow.

HTS used to be a wing of al Qaeda known as the Nusra Front and has long been designated a terrorist group by the US, UK and Russia.

The group comes under al Qaeda on the UK's proscribed list, with the British government saying it should be treated as an alternative name for al Qaeda.

Its founder, Abu Muhammed al Jolani, cut ties with al Qaeda in 2016 in an effort to appear moderate and in 2021 he said he had no desire to wage war against Western countries.

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Former head of the British Army's chemical weapons unit, Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, told Sky News HTS "seemed to be a different organisation" when he was in Syria in 2020, compared to the last time he was there seven years before.

"Even in those days, they were trying to convince the medical networks we were helping that they were a political, moderate entity," he said.

"What they're saying now is, is the same. Syria was always a secular and moderate country, and it's key that all the various factions are bought into this.

"And if it requires somebody like their leader, Abu Mohammed Alka Jilani, to do that, then so be it. But I think we need to give them a chance. They're saying the right things.

"The people of Syria are absolutely delighted and want to make things work, but it's going to be a challenge."