The United States government has revoked its designation of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham as a foreign terrorist organization, seven months after the group overthrew Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and

The United States will revoke its designation of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) as a foreign terrorist organisation (FTO) as Washington softens its approach to post-war Syria following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government last year.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, was previously al-Qaeda’s Syria branch, or Nusra Front. The memo dated June 23 from U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was published in a preview of the Federal Register before official publication on Tuesday.