From a $10 million bounty to the presidency: how al-Sharaa’s sanctions were lifted

Ahmed al-Sharaa, now President of Syria, was listed for years under his nom de guerre Abu Mohammad al-Jolani (“Muhammad al-Jawlani” in U.S. documents) as leader of Jabhat al-Nusra. See his profile

The listings

  • May 2013: the U.S. State Department designated him a Specially Designated Global Terrorist as leader of al-Nusrah Front. 1
  • He was also listed on the UN ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida sanctions list under reference QDi.317, and individually by the European Union. 2 3

The removals

DateDecision
8 July 2025The U.S. revokes HTS’s designation as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. 4
6 November 2025UN Security Council resolution 2799 removes al-Sharaa (QDi.317) from the ISIL/Al-Qaida list. 2
November 2025The U.S. revokes his individual SDGT designation; the EU removes his individual listing. 5 3
27 February 2026The UN removes QDe.137 (al-Nusra / HTS) from the consolidated list. 6
24 August 2026The U.S. Treasury revokes HTS’s SDGT designation and removes it from the SDN list. 4

What delisting means, and what it does not

Delisting is a political and legal decision about sanctions. It does not erase the documented record of the organisations he led: Human Rights Watch documented al-Nusra’s participation in executions of civilians in rural Latakia in 2013, and later arrests and torture in HTS-controlled Idlib. 7 8 These reports document the groups’ conduct; they do not by themselves establish his personal criminal responsibility for each incident.

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Sources

  1. Official record Terrorist Designation of Al-Nusrah Front Leader Muhammad al-Jawlani — U.S. Department of State, May 16, 2013
  2. Official record Resolution 2799 (2025): removal of Ahmed al-Sharaa from the ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida sanctions list — UN Security Council, November 6, 2025
  3. Official record Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2327: removal of the individual listing of Ahmed al-Sharaa — European Union, November 2025
  4. Official record Revocation of HTS’s SDGT designation and removal from the SDN list (FTO revoked 8 July 2025) — U.S. Department of the Treasury, August 24, 2026
  5. Official record Revocation of the SDGT designation of Muhammad al-Jawlani / Ahmed al-Sharaa — Federal Register / U.S. Department of State, November 7, 2025
  6. Official record Consolidated list updates: removal of QDe.137 — UN Security Council, February 27, 2026
  7. Human-rights organisation You Can Still See Their Blood: Executions, Indiscriminate Shootings, and Hostage Taking by Opposition Forces in Latakia Countryside — Human Rights Watch, October 10, 2013
  8. Human-rights organisation Syria: Arrests, Torture by Armed Group — Human Rights Watch, January 28, 2019